All the Democrats screaming to impeach Trump now are getting ahead of themselves.
No one should move to impeach Trump in summer of 2019. It is too early to pursue impeachment, and there is not enough damning evidence available. Redaction riddles too much of the Mueller Report; too many investigations are still pending. Mueller farmed out those investigations to places like the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Virginia, and to other jurisdictions. Those investigations will yield important and valuable evidence. As Nancy Pelosi has said, an impeachment process can only succeed with an airtight case.
If Democrats begin impeachment proceedings in summer of 2019, more than 18 months would pass between the start of impeachment and Trump’s re-election opportunity in November of 2020.
The process plays out like this: the House of Representatives votes on one or more articles of impeachment. If at least one gets a majority vote, the president is impeached — which in practical terms means being indicted. Historically, the House Judiciary Committee considered the matter first in both the Nixon and Clinton impeachment cases.
Next, the proceedings move to the Senate, which holds a trial overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
A team of lawmakers from the House, known as managers, play the role of prosecutors. The president has defense lawyers, and the Senate serves as the jury.
Serving as the jury, the Senate would exonerate Trump in 20 minutes. In six to 12 months, all that impeachment activity would start and finish, from the start in the House to the exoneration by the Senate.
This would give Trump three or more months to scream “No Obstruction! No Collusion! The U.S. Senate Exonerated Me.” He would sail to re-election victory.