It's been reported in history that impeachment can happen when one leaves office. This is what someone has said. Now...I'm digging and I'm not sure if I can find it. Ive found someone actually arguing the opposite. Sauce: https://www.legislativeprocedure.com/blog/2021/1/8/latest-impeachment-effort-not-possible-under-rules "The Constitution defines who is subject to impeachment (Article II, section 4). It stipulates, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Senate must vote separately to bar an impeached official from office. That vote, unlike the vote to convict, requires a simple majority. But that vote is not in order until after the Senate has voted to convict the official based on the articles of impeachment. The Senate cannot remove someone from office if they are not in that office. And absent a conviction vote, the Senate cannot bar someone from holding future office. The consequences of giving Congress this power would be to allow it to bar private citizens from holding office preemptively."
This leads me to believe that Congress is trying to panic vote Trump out of office before the 20th..HOWEVER. They won't get an impeachment hearing. It wouldnt be till the 20th before they can get their ducks in a row for impeachment. WHY is congress pushing for impeachment?
The only logical thing I can think of is exactly that, should the impeachment go through it would prevent him from holding public office again...
But if we really are completely dissolving the old government as we know it and starting new then the impeachment won't mean dick.
Personally I think it's the death throws of their panic stricken rage. They are doing anything and everything they can to make him look bad in the public eye.