*** The Official MAGAposting thread ***

[boost]

In order for Trump to be impeached, it has to happen before 2020 (he must be the sitting POTUS), and Pence will be sworn in.
46 can't take office before that.

Well, a couple of things:
1) being impeached is not synonymous with being convicted and therefore removed from office. Essentially to impeach is to indict. The House impeaches, the Senate adjudicates.
2) were he to be impeached and convicted, thereby removed from office, 46 would be Pence.
3) trump will still be president in 2021 (should he not be impeached and convicted before his term ends)
4) there is nothing that bars congress from impeaching and convicting a public official after their term has ended. Removal from office would obviously be moot at this point, but the guilty would then be barred from holding office from there on.

In this case, 46 wouldn't be on his side and wouldn't be likely to offer up a pardon.

This may have been a bit confusing-- what's implied is that, in all scenarios in which Trump does not get a second term, whether 46 is Pence or a Democrat depends on whether Trump resigns/is removed from office before January 20th 2021.

[MadMojoMonkey]

Well, a couple of things:
1) being impeached is not synonymous with being convicted and therefore removed from office. Essentially to impeach is to indict. The House impeaches, the Senate adjudicates.
2) were he to be impeached and convicted, thereby removed from office, 46 would be Pence.
3) trump will still be president in 2021 (should he not be impeached and convicted before his term ends)
4) there is nothing that bars congress from impeaching and convicting a public official after their term has ended. Removal from office would obviously be moot at this point, but the guilty would then be barred from holding office from there on.

1) Yeah. Impeachment is equivalent to a Grand Jury. If the impeachment hearing reaches a supermajority of votes to impeach, that amounts to a criminal indictment. That is, the impeachment hearing is a precursor to leveling criminal charges and any legal actions that follow. The purpose is to see if there is adequate evidence to take the time and effort to press charges, basically. It's meant to protect elected officials from frivolous law suits, as I understand it. IF the impeachment goes through, then removal from office to stand trial is the next legal action.

It should be noted that 2 US presidents have been impeached and neither left office.
Nixon was not impeached, but resigned when it became clear that he would be impeached. Nixon was pardoned by Ford, even though at first Ford said he'd only do it if Nixon apologized. Nixon said he didn't commit any crimes and had nothing to apologize for. Ford relented and pardoned him anyway.

4) That was a rabbit hole.
As far as I can tell, impeachment only applies to "officers of the US federal gov't." This includes not just POTUS, but top-level federal judiciary seats and all offices which are filled by presidential appointment with Senate approval.
In addition, it includes every officer in all branches of US military. I assume impeachment doesn't apply to military officers, as the military has its own courts, but it's a guess.

So, as far as I can tell, once the official is no longer in office, the impeachment clause does not apply to them. That's under the assumption that "officer of the US fed gov't" isn't a lifetime title, but that's not completely clear. A person may choose to hold the honorific "The honorable" [MMM] for life, having ever held one of these offices, though wikipedia says use of this honorific is not common.

I'm not exactly sure who and under what circumstances needs to be impeached to continue with criminal prosecution, and an ex-POTUS may or may not have that protection.

[boost]

1) Yeah. Impeachment is equivalent to a Grand Jury. If the impeachment hearing reaches a supermajority of votes to impeach, that amounts to a criminal indictment. That is, the impeachment hearing is a precursor to leveling criminal charges and any legal actions that follow. The purpose is to see if there is adequate evidence to take the time and effort to press charges, basically. It's meant to protect elected officials from frivolous law suits, as I understand it. IF the impeachment goes through, then removal from office to stand trial is the next legal action.

It should be noted that 2 US presidents have been impeached and neither left office.
Nixon was not impeached, but resigned when it became clear that he would be impeached. Nixon was pardoned by Ford, even though at first Ford said he'd only do it if Nixon apologized. Nixon said he didn't commit any crimes and had nothing to apologize for. Ford relented and pardoned him anyway.

4) That was a rabbit hole.
As far as I can tell, impeachment only applies to "officers of the US federal gov't." This includes not just POTUS, but top-level federal judiciary seats and all offices which are filled by presidential appointment with Senate approval.
In addition, it includes every officer in all branches of US military. I assume impeachment doesn't apply to military officers, as the military has its own courts, but it's a guess.

So, as far as I can tell, once the official is no longer in office, the impeachment clause does not apply to them. That's under the assumption that "officer of the US fed gov't" isn't a lifetime title, but that's not completely clear. A person may choose to hold the honorific "The honorable" [MMM] for life, having ever held one of these offices, though wikipedia says use of this honorific is not common.

I'm not exactly sure who and under what circumstances needs to be impeached to continue with criminal prosecution, and an ex-POTUS may or may not have that protection.

Yeah, the ex-POTUS impeachment is interesting but almost certainly will remain theoretical, and is a bit in the weeds. But if you're enjoying the rabbit hole, this is just a few paragraphs: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...ton-again.html

Anyways, my point was that there are some interesting scenarios given the game board-- for example, it could be in Trump's best interest to get himself impeached if it's a lock that we'll have a Dem POTUS in January 2021 and he'll face criminal charges that Pence would preemptively pardon him for. Of course he still has the issue of being charged by state AG's..