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Watch: A breakdown of how the US presidential impeachment process works

November 20, 2019

Impeachment is the mechanism by which a sitting US president can be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanours.

Let's take a closer look at the impeachment process playing out in the United States -  that could see Donald Trump removed from office - and how it actually works.

The House of Representatives is divided into two sides - the Democrats and the Republicans - who will decide on impeachment, the mechanism by which a sitting US president can be removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanours.

The US Congress, or North America's Houses of Parliament, is made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The first chamber is the 435-member House of Representatives, which votes in the first stage of impeachment proceedings. It has to pass by a simple majority. The House is currently controlled by the Democrats.

The process then moves to the the upper House of the 100-seat Senate - the second chamber - where the President is put on trial. The Senate is currently controlled by Republicans.

The senators basically act as the jury, but for President Trump to be removed from the White House, two-thirds of the senators would have to find him guilty - something which has never happened before in US history.

Only two previous presidents have faced impeachment - Bill Clinton in 1999, and Andrew Johnson in 1868.

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