Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 the House of Representatives worked to impeach President Trump for the second time. The House impeached Trump on Jan. 13, 2021 for incitement of insurrection due to his role in the Capitol attack.

An impeachment alone does not mean removal from office. Impeachment is a power of the U.S. House of Representatives in response to illegal actions done by a government official. The U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach a government official, and the U.S. Senate holds a trial to convict and remove the government official from office.

On Jan. 16, 2020 President Trump was impeached for the first time for abuse of power and ‘obstruction of congress. The U.S. Senate voted to acquit the impeachment, allowing Trump to remain in office.

The second impeachment is not guaranteed to hold the same outcome as the last. Social studies teacher Laura Rodey explained the difference between the first and second of Trump’s impeachments.

“I think the biggest difference between the two impeachments was the timing and events leading up to each of them. The entire process the first time happened over the course of almost a year, including the events leading to impeachment, the investigation, the hearings, etc. etc. Everyone knew about the issue long before anyone introduced the articles of impeachment,” Rodey said.

Rodey continued, “This time, Trump’s challenges to the results of the Nov. 2020 election had been going on for a while, but I didn’t hear much impeachment talk even though he was calling on people to reject the results. However after the Jan. 6 insurrection occurred, things moved very quickly towards impeachment. Representative Ilhan Omar tweeted on Jan. 6 that she would draft an article of impeachment, and one was introduced only five days later on Jan. 11.”

If the Senate trial votes to convict Trump on his second impeachment he will lose the ability to run again in future elections. President Trump would also lose the benefits given to him under the Former Presidents Act of 1958 such as his pension.

Some republican legislators voted in favor of this impeachment and plan to vote in favor of a trial. According to CNN News “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that he’s in favor of impeachment, a GOP source says, but he’s made it clear that the Senate trial won’t start until Biden is sworn in.”

This trial will be the first presidential impeachment trial for a president that is no longer in office. The constitution requires a two-thirds vote from the Senate to convict and the Senate chamber will be split 50-50 democrat and republican during the time of trial.