the chief justice of the united states supreme court would preside over it and it would be a trial with evidence presented and it doesn t have to be limited to just the facts surrounding the calls to the ukraine and the pressure put on ukraine in that quid pro quo that s been announced. he indicated it doesn t require crime t. can just be a violation of the public trust. and in doing so frankly the house can look into other acts and incidents that were committed by donald trump in furtherance of the violation of the public trust. as we look at the defense so far, deep state partisan, as well, just playing devil s advocate here, let s say that those are true. would that weaken the case as the house moves forward against donald trump? i think part of those defenses are something you commonly hear in criminal cases by the accused. often times you will hear about
are those good defenses to what might be moving forward in the impeachment process? so those are not recognized legal defenses anywhere. of course, somebody who is going to be the accused is going to say that the prosecution inthat is what you are going to call the house democrats that they are biassed or prejudice in some way. that is not a viable legal defense coming out of the rudy giuliani steven miller camp. if that s the only thing that they have to offer, then donald trump is going to have an exceptionally difficult uphill battle to defend himself when it makes it to the senate. it s really important to note that there is no legal obligation for the senate to actually conduct a trial. there is no obligation for that to happen. in fact, mitch mcconnell can say i think it s flimsy even though the house votes the articles of impeachment through and can say we are not going to do this. the optic would not make sense. i think it would be political pressure from republicans and from
the chief justice of the united states presides over that trial in the senate. and a super majority of 67 votes is needed. they must say yes to do so. the president, if that happens is then removed from office. the vice president then takes over. this final step, by the way, that we re talking about where the vice president is running the country has never been reached in our country s history. andrew johnson and bill clinton were impeached meaning the house approved the charges against them, but neither got the senate votes to convict and remove them from office. richard nixon resigned before the house impeachment proceedings could begin. joining us now is harvard university law professor and author of impeachment a citizens guide. thank for being with us. let s start with the charges, high crimes and misdemeanors.