Reply #7: Not a lawyer, but.. [View All]

[wrathofkahn]

It's my understanding that a sitting President must first be impeached and removed from office (two separate events) before being tried for any case of "high crimes and misdemeanors." Therefore, impeachment and subsequent removal from office is not legal proof of guilt, but instead it opens the door to prosecution. As it was explained to me once before (I think in my poli-sci class 10 years ago), the impeachment and removal process can loosely be thought of as a kind of special "grand jury."

Again, I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play one on TV); I'm just going off of my own understanding.