You Asked, We Answered: Here's How Nancy Pelosi Could Become President

Impeachment talks grew louder on Thursday night after BuzzFeed News reported that President Donald J. Trump instructed his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his involvement in a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and the timeline of the negotiations with Russia.

Naturally, the possibility of impeaching Trump and kicking him out of office sent #TheResistance into a frenzy. (Trump's attorneys denied all these allegations, by the way.) The natural progression for some was to manifest their desires by creating a new hashtag: #PresidentPelosi. As in, President Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, first of her name.

Impeachment has been a dream for many since Trump took office two years ago. If confirmed, the new report is the closest thing to actual wrongdoing Americans have seen since then. "Articles of impeachment were drawn up against President Richard Nixon and President Bill Clinton because they encouraged people to commit perjury, i.e. LIE!!!" or variations of that sentiment have been sent into the Twittersphere for the past 16 hours. The logic, as it goes for some, it's that Vice President Mike Pence's hands would likely not be clean either in the event evidence surfaces leading to Trump leaving office or being removed from the presidency.

Enter #PresidentPelosi. The House Speaker is second in line to become POTUS after the Vice President, thanks to a little thing called the presidential line of succession. The list of people that could succeed President Trump is pretty long, just in case a catastrophe hits Washington, D.C. (have you seen Designated Survivor?) or that multiple people are either unable or unwilling to fill the role.

Of course, for Pelosi to become president a lot would need to happen. To begin with, impeachment is a long, complex political process — not a judicial one. With Democrats in control of the House, they could impeach Trump tomorrow if they wanted as long as they determine he has committed "high crimes or misdemeanors." But without two-thirds of the Republican-controlled Senate, i.e. 67 people committed to vote to remove Trump for office, impeachment is a wild goose chase.

Nevertheless, Democrats are interested in finding out more about the BuzzFeed News report. "The allegation that the President of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date. We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true," Rep. Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter.