Impeachment of a president requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.
Posted by The Jimmy Dore Show, Checked
- Sources
- 3 contradict5 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
The Jimmy Dore ShowAug 3, 2026
The sources consistently establish that a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required to convict and remove a president, so the post's intended point holds. Read literally, though, the claim says impeachment itself requires two-thirds in the Senate, but the sources say the House impeaches by simple majority and the two-thirds requirement applies only to Senate conviction.
What was said
… The system had provided us with the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. They didn't provide us with nothing because it hasn't been used, and it ain't going to be used. They've improved, they've, ah, given us impeachment. Come on, you gotta have, ah, what is it, two-thirds majority? You'll never, ever get that. Impeachment is a show. People like, when Trump comes in, they're going to impeach him. A, they probably ain't, but B, if they do, it's something to keep you busy for six months so they can show it. …
The Jimmy Dore Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Under the literal reading, impeachment is the House's formal charge and is approved by simple majority, so impeachment itself does not require a two-thirds Senate vote.[1][3][8]
Supports. The Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate, with the Chief Justice presiding, to convict and remove a president, as stated in the Senate's own impeachment guidance and the Constitution Annotated.[3][4][5][6]
Supports. CRS and Reuters both state that two-thirds of Senators present (67 of 100) are needed to convict and remove a president from office.[2][7]
Context. The Senate's two-thirds threshold governs the trial and conviction stage that follows House impeachment, which is the sense in which the post and the claim are most plausibly meant.[1][7]
Sources
8 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 5 primary, 1 not rated
- 1Impeachment a rarely used path for upending a presidentapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts, context
- 2What does it take to remove a U.S. president from office? | Reutersreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3U.S. Senate: About Impeachmentsenate.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 4Overview of Impeachment Trials | Constitution Annotatedconstitution.congress.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5Senate Practices in Impeachment | U.S. Constitution Annotatedlaw.cornell.edu · primary source · cited for: supports
- 6[PDF] Impeachment.pdf - Riddick Senate Procedureriddick.gpo.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 7The Impeachment Process in the Senatecongress.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 8Factbox: Steps for removing a U.S. president from officejp.reuters.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post