Impeachment 101: Here's how it would work (if it actually happened)

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation has led to a guilty plea from Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, for facilitating hush money illegally paid in the final days of the 2016 election to two women -- former adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal -- who both alleged sexual encounters with the President.

That charge alone, if proven against Trump, had the incoming Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee saying the President would be guilty of "impeachable offenses." Who knows that Mueller will ultimately find with regard to Russia.

But Rep. Jerry Nadler stopped short of saying Democrats would pursue impeachment. And other Democratic leaders have not actively pursued it either.

If Democrats tried to impeach Trump, the process would involve a series of complicated steps. Here's a look at how it would work.

(Click for a more in-depth explanation.)

Is impeachment remotely possible?

According to the US Constitution, impeachment proceedings start in the House, then they have to go to the Senate for a trial.

In January, Democrats will control the House, so they could vote to investigate and impeach Trump on a simple party line.

Then it would go to the Senate, where it takes a two-thirds majority to find the President guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. That's 67 senators if everyone votes. Republicans control the Senate, so they'd have to break with a President from their own party in a very big way. How big? Starting in January, 20 Republicans would have to cross the aisle and join 47 Democrats. That seems like a tall order.

Plus, a lot of Democrats can remember when impeaching President Bill Clinton backfired on Republicans in the late 1990s. Clinton was popular overall, despite his infidelity and his lies about it. The Republican House impeached him, but nowhere near 67 senators voted to kick him out of office. He reached the height of his popularity as President when the effort was seen as a partisan attack. Every Democrat stayed with Clinton in the Senate and even a few Republicans voted against convicting him.

It was a different story for Richard Nixon, who resigned from office in August of 1974 rather than be impeached. In his case, his popularity then was far lower than Trump's is now. Members of his own party were starting to turn against him and he had no choice but to resign or probably be kicked out of office.