What does impeachment of a president mean exactly? Will he remain our president?
President Donald Trump is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached -- events that culminated this Wednesday after a contintous few weeks.
Trump follows presidents Bill Clinton and Andrew Jackson.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives debated the two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats voted 230 to 197 for the first article and 229-198 for the second.
The House Judiciary Committee released a full report Monday, which formally laid the groundwork for the vote, saying Trump "betrayed the nation by abusing his high office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections," according to an AP story.
Trump has maintained he has done nothing wrong. He has dismissed the claims and report as a "witch hunt" and a "scam," taking to Twitter to write "READ THE TRANSCRIPTS! The Impeachment Hoax is the greatest con job in the history of American politics! The Fake News Media, and their partner, the Democrat Party, are working overtime to make life for the United Republican Party, and all it stands for, as difficult as possible!"
Most Americans understand that although Trump was impeached, he will not be automatically removed from office. Only the Senate can determine if that happens or not with a trial. Senators sit as jurors, House lawmakers act as prosecutors, known as managers (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can now name the managers at any point, and the House will then debate and vote on the resolution naming the managers,) and chief justice of the Unites States presides over it. Then the senators (two-thirds) take a public vote and decide whether or not to convict and remove the president from office.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the trial would likely happen in January.
The rest of the rules are up to the Senate. A simple majority of the Senate must agree on whether to call witnesses, what kind of evidence to admit, and how long to make the trial. In the event that there's a tie on questions regarding evidence and witnesses, Chief Justice John Roberts would cast the tie-breaking vote, the Senate's guidelines suggest.
"The presiding officer (the chief justice) may rule on all questions of evidence, including, but not limited to, questions of relevancy, materiality, and redundancy of evidence and incidental questions," the guidelines say.
Just for the record... neither Clinton or Jackson were removed from office.
Given the Republican majority in the Senate, McConnell believes Mr. Trump will be acquitted and will remain in office.
CBS News contributed to this story.
