It used to be the case, a very long time ago, that you could count on CNN to be a reliable source of information. Somehow, somewhere along the way, they turned into a liberal talking point on cable TV.
It’s sad too, because I remember back when I was a kid we used to watch CNN for an hour or so every night after dinner and always felt like they were never lying to me.
Now, it feels like I never know if they are telling the truth or not. Seriously, if Chris Cuomo came out on CNN and said that my wife loved me, I would walk into the living room to ask to make sure.
A viral tweet claims that impeaching President Donald Trump for a second time would mean he would lose the ability to run for president in 2024. That’s not true. Nor are other claims in the tweet. Here’s the facts.
The tweet was posted on Friday, two days after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. The incident sparked a new impeachment push from House Democrats. As of early Monday, it had more than 181,000 retweets and 725,000 likes. It says the following:
“For those wondering if it’s worth impeaching him this time, it means he:
1) loses his 200k+ pension for the rest of his life
2) loses his 1 million dollar/year travel allowance
3) loses lifetime full secret service detail
4) loses his ability to run in 2024”
Facts First: The tweet is inaccurate in multiple ways.
1) Trump would lose his post-presidency pension only if both the House voted to impeach him and then the Senate voted to remove him from office; impeachment itself, without removal, would not result in Trump being denied any benefits.
3) It is unclear that Trump would lose lifetime Secret Service protection even if the Senate voted to remove him and prohibit him from running.
4) Even a Senate vote to remove Trump would not prohibit him from running in 2024; for the Senate to ban him from the presidency, it would have to hold an additional vote on this question.
The post-presidency pension
Trump would not lose his pension if the House impeached him for his role in inciting the insurrection — just as he didn’t lose his pension when the House impeached him in 2019 over his effort to use the US’ relationship with Ukraine for his own political ends. Rather, under the Former Presidents Act, he would lose his pension only if the Senate voted to convict him and remove him from office.
Lots of average citizens use the word “impeachment” to refer to impeachment and removal, so we’re not bashing Costiloe for this common error, but the statement is incorrect.
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