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Originally Posted by gnadfly
So it's not impeachment. Even though every channel calls it an impeachment and the articles of impeachment call it an impeachment.
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Actually it’s a trial. He was impeached while he was president. The constitution breaks the process into impeachment (indictment) in the house and trial on those allegations in the senate. We just call it impeachment because people have a limited knowledge of the constitution.
To use an easy to understand example the statute of limitations for crimes prevent a person being charged after a set time period based on the statute. By law, the DA (or states attorney or DOJ) has to bring their indictment within the statute of limitations or they are barred from doing so. They can file their indictment on the last day.
Then there is discovery and trial. Those don’t have to occur within the statute of limitations. They can be had, and usually are, months even years later as long as the indictment was timely. No different than what’s happening with Trump now. He was impeached (indicted) while president. But his trial is occurring afterward even though he’s no longer president.
Impeachment - first process
Trial - second process
Hope that helps and clears it up for you.