The president of our country was just impeached on counts of abuse of power and obstruction of congress. Impeachment, as defined in our constitution, is a process for ensuring that our highest elected officials can not abuse their power or commit other โhigh crimes or misdemeanors.โ
Impeachment is like a grand jury indictment. It means there is enough evidence of wrongdoing to proceed to the next step. The process then moves to a trial in the Senate.
In this case, the abuse of power involves withholding approved aid from an allied country at war contingent on the country officials agreeing to have an โinvestigationโ into an American citizen who is the presidents political opponent. Besides risking national security for personal gain, accepting or soliciting foreign interference in elections is a violation of federal election law.
If the outcome of the trial is to remove the president from office, the person elected Vice President takes office.
The 45th president remains the 45th president regardless. The presidency is not nullified, no special elections are held. If the Vice President is also impeached, next in line is the Speaker of the House. There is a whole line of succession.
