Impeachment is a topic on everyone’s mind with the current investigation into President Donald Trump’s presidency.

The situation is quite complicated with the various different testimonies, different takes from different people, and the multitude of different key players. To truly understand this situation it’s necessary to break it down into the various stages, starting with the crimes that the president is being accused of.

Now, there have only been three different impeachment investigations in U.S. history: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. Both Johnson and Clinton were impeached but weren’t actually removed from office, and Nixon resigned prior to an impeachment vote. All of these presidents, as well as Trump, were charged with “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

As for specifics for Trump, his accusations start with a memo from back in July 2019 about a phone call to Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky. A whistleblower released a complaint about said phone call in August, with it being released the following September. The actual phone call was allegedly aimed at coercing Zelensky by withholding military aid into investigating Trump’s political opponent Joe Biden. 

So far in this long and exhausting impeachment process, there have been several hearings and testimonies during this inquiry stage. The next step is bringing forth articles of impeachment, which Democrats have done as of Dec. 10. These articles discuss the abuse of power and an obstruction of congress. 

Democrats are currently holding impeachment as one of the most important things to do in order to protect democracy in our country. Impeachment has been something left-leaning citizens have been calling for since the beginning of the presidency back in Jan. of 2017. 

Trump is continuing to deny these charges, asserting that he has done nothing to warrant an impeachment. He, in general, is criticizing the articles and the Democrats putting them forth, as he has been doing for the past months of his presidency. 

Overall, if all goes well for democrats, proceedings for impeachment will continue and President Trump will be the fourth president to face impeachment proceedings and the 3rd to actually be impeached. Only time will tell!