What is impeachment? It is the process the Constitution gives Congress to formally charge a federal official with serious wrongdoing and, if the charges hold up at a trial, remove that person from office.
Impeachment is often misunderstood as removal itself, but it is only the first half. When the House of Representatives impeaches someone, it is voting to accuse them, much like a grand jury indicting someone in a criminal case. The accusation is written up in documents called articles of impeachment, and each article describes one charge. The House needs a simple majority, which means more than half of the members voting, to approve them.
The second half happens in the Senate, which holds the trial. House members act as prosecutors, the official being tried has a defense team, and senators serve as the jury. When the president is on trial, the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides. To convict and remove someone, two thirds of the senators present must vote guilty, which is 67 votes if all 100 senators are there. If the Senate convicts, it can also hold a separate vote, which needs only a majority, to bar that person from ever holding federal office again. If the Senate does ...