The first Republican president to face isolation ... The US House of Representatives votes today on Trump's indictment

Mohammed Al-Minshawi-Washington

Of the 45 presidents the United States has known since its founding 240 years ago, President Donald Trump today joins two presidents who previously voted to remove them.

In 1868, the House of Representatives voted in favor of removing President Andrew Jackson, and after more than 130 years the House voted in favor of removing President Bill Clinton in 1998. In both cases, the Senate acquitted the two Presidents and continued to exercise their presidential functions.

It is expected that the House of Representatives will vote for the first time in its history on an indictment of a Republican president, as Presidents Clinton and Jackson belonged to the Democratic Party.

The indictment includes two violations, the first related to President Trump's misuse of his powers, and the second related to Trump's obstruction of Congress.

The vote of members of the House Judicial Committee showed a strict partisan commitment to voting with or against Trump's removal, as all 23 Democrats voted to remove Trump, while all 17 Republican members rejected the removal decision.

The result of the House vote is expected to reflect a major partisan commitment, but four Democratic members are expected to vote against one or both of the indictments.

A recent map of the House of Representatives indicates that there are 31 constituencies that Democrats won in the 2018 congressional elections, while Trump won in 2016.

Democrats need 218 votes among the 435 members of the House of Representatives to pass a resolution to remove the president and submit it to the Senate to try the president. Democrats have a comfortable majority of 235 members, compared to two hundred Republicans.

Trump's anger
Trump yesterday expressed his anger clearly in a five-page letter he sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which he accused her of undermining American democracy and "of attempting a coup."

In his message, Trump warned Pelosi that "History will judge you harshly."

On the other hand, seven hundred scientists from across the United States called on Congress to the need to isolate Trump "and save America", and scientists condemned the president's behavior, which they see as "a clear and present danger to the constitution."

The list of scholars included historians, legal experts and experts in various scientific fields.

These scholars believe that "Trump's illegal obstruction of the House of Representatives, who legitimately sought to obtain witness documents and statements in the context of his constitutionally stipulated role, represents an unlawful departure from practices that any democratic government must adhere to."

Mysterious steps
No one knows for sure what the next steps in President Trump's removal procedures will be, and the US constitution has not been exposed to details of the President's removal procedures, and this has been left to the leaders of both houses of Congress and heads of committees on the issue of isolation.

The few historical experiences in which Congress was forced to start the measures to isolate the President did not provide reliable precedents, as historical precedents relate to privacy and circumstances that cannot be applied in the case of Donald Trump.

On the other hand, the massive polarization between Democrats and Republicans over the issue of President Trump's dismissal impedes the existence of any common ground between the two parties on the next steps.

Mitch McConnell, President of the Senate Republican majority, considered the measures and objectives of the president's dismissal as a political process, not a judicial process. "I cannot be neutral in a political process, this is not a judicial process at all," McConnell spoke to reporters yesterday in Washington.

"The Democrats have taken a clear partisan stance to isolate the president. I expect the vote in the House of Representatives to be identical to the party affiliation," McConnell added. The Republican leader of the Senate confirmed that he "will not be neutral about the measures of the president's dismissal process."

Next steps
The 435 council members will be asked to vote on the decision to dismiss the president, who needs a simple majority (half plus one vote) to pass.

It is widely expected that the House of Representatives will pass the resolution, as Democrats have a majority of 235 members, compared to two hundred members of the Republicans, and then the House raises this law to Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate.

McConnell has vowed to deal quickly with the House of Representatives decision, and the Trump Senate trial begins after he returns from the Christmas holidays.

The trial is expected to take several weeks. The trial is presided over by the chief judge of the Constitutional Court, Judge John Roberts, and all 100 senators who serve as a jury must participate in the trial, voting for or against a decision to dismiss President Trump, a decision that needs a two-thirds majority.

The Republicans have a majority of 53 members compared to 47 for the Democrats. To condemn and remove the President from office, Democrats need the votes of twenty Republicans, which cannot be achieved under the current polarization conditions.