While I agree with you that Trump's stated reason for firing Comey is absolute BS, it is next to impossible to impeach a sitting US president. Impeachment is an INCREDIBLY difficult process that starts in the House of Reps, they are the only body that can impeach and must draw up articles of impeachment where they present the formal charges. However if a president is impeached, the Senate must then hold a trial and find the president guilty in order to remove him from the office.
2/3rd of the assembled senate must vote guilty, that's a high bar to clear.
Given that Republicans control both the house and senate the realistic odds of an impeachment are very, very, very low. In addition only two presidents have been impeached in history, and both Andrew Johnson, and Bill Clinton were found not guilty in the senate so they stayed in power. So even if Trump did get impeached that is no guarantee that he would be removed from office.
To prompt the House of reps, to even draw up articles of impeachment, there would have to be IRON CLAD evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes_and_misdemeanors.
There certainly is a lot of smoke surrounding Trump, his associates, and campaign when it comes to Russia, but I have not seen an actual (legally provable) fire as yet... But even if someone does come forward with hard evidence there can and will be a lot of political wheeling and dealing throughout any impeachment process.
Now, all that being said, there are some parallels, between Trump's behaviors and the charges that Andrew Johnson faced for impeachment...
"The special committee drafted eleven articles of impeachment which were approved a week later. Articles 1-8 charged President Johnson with illegally removing Stanton (Then Secretary of War, kind of similar to Trump removing Comey) from office. Article 9 accused Johnson of violating the Command of the Army Act (There are many who believe Trump is violating the Emoluments clause
https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...no-idea-what-they-are/?utm_term=.547766dd311c and there is already a lawsuit against Trump on this very charge). The last two charged Johnson with libeling Congress through "inflammatory and scandalous harangues" (Trump is certainly no stranger to inflammatory and scandalous harangues).
http://www.american-presidents-history.com/presidential-impeachment.html
"Presidential Impeachment Process
Presidential Impeachment is a two stage
Constitutional process. The full power of
Impeachment and the removal of a sitting President resides within Congress. The actual
impeachment of a President is the sole power of the House of Representatives. Once a
President is impeached, the power of removing the President shifts to the U.S. Senate.
The House of Representatives starts the impeachment process by publicly investigating the charges and holding hearings. If the House of Representatives votes against impeachment the process is over and the President is not Impeached.
If the House of Representatives votes for Impeachment of the President, the process moves forward with the drawing up of the Articles of Impeachment (The official criminal charges for removal from office). The President has now been officially impeached per the United States Constitution. Once the Impeachment process is final, trials are then held in the U.S. Senate to convict or acquit the President of the Articles of Impeachment drawn against him.
Impeachment of Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton
In 1867 the 17th U.S. President
Andrew Johnson, successor to the Presidency when
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, became the first
President in American History to be impeached. Over One Hundred and Thirty years later history would repeat itself.
President Bill Clinton made a public apology from the White House Rose Garden on December 11, 1998 for his "words and deeds" during his presidency which brought the impeachment inquiry of Congress.
Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998. He is the second and only other President in American History to be
impeached. In both
Presidential impeachments the Articles of
impeachment were drawn and a criminal trial in the U.S. Senate proceeded. However, both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted of the charges and were not removed from office. Johnson was spared removal of the high office by only one Senate vote.
First Impeachment attempt of a President
The 10th U.S. President John Tyler is the first President in history to assume the office upon the death of a sitting President, when
William H. Harrison died suddenly.
Vice President for just one month, Tyler insisted upon assuming the full powers of a duly elected President setting a new precedent. It wasn't until the
25th amendment to the
U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1967 that succession was explicitly written.
Therefore, Congress considered his excessive use of the veto power an abuse of power and in 1843 Tyler would also become the first
Presidential impeachment attempt by having an impeachment resolution introduced in the House of Representatives, lead by committee head House Representative
John Quincy Adams. However, the full House was not convinced and the attempt failed miserably.
First Presidential Resignation - Richard Nixon
In 1974 the House of Representatives were in talks about the impeachment of
Richard M. Nixon in connection to the
Watergate scandal and decided to bring it to a vote on three Articles of Impeachment: Obstruction of justice, Misuse of powers and violation of his oath of office, and failure to comply with house subpoenas.
On August 9, Richard Nixon resigned as President before the vote of impeachment could be cast on the House floor which was to be voted on around August 24th. Had Nixon not resigned, it is believed the vote would have gone against him and a criminal trial in the Senate would have followed.
Richard Nixon is the
only President in American History to resign as a sitting President. Nixon was later pardoned by his successor
Gerald R. Ford, exonerating him of any criminal charges.
- See more at:
http://www.american-presidents-history.com/presidential-impeachment.html#sthash.WMik3uir.dpuf
