An international law expert says the impeachment of Donald Trump makes it more likely he'll be re-elected next year.
Trump became only the third US President in history to be impeached this week, after allegedly withholding promised aid money to Ukraine unless they dug dirt on a political rival.
The charge comfortably passed in the House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold a majority, but will likely fail in the Senate, which is controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
University of Waikato professor Al Gillespie told Magic Talk on Sunday the Democrats "have probably made a mistake here and they've actually given him a gift for Christmas".
"It's very likely the impeachment will be something that will increase his chances of reelection in 2020... the only thing that could possibly turn this is if some witnesses were produced that could be very detrimental to Donald Trump."
Republican leaders have said they will do everything to stop Trump being kicked out of office, which requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
"We hope that people would behave impartially, but the charge of impeachment is not a legal charge - it's a political charge, which means everyone's going to vote right down the line," said Dr Gillespie.
Trump has called for the Senate trial to be held right away, but the Democrats are holding back, hoping to get an agreement witnesses can be called. Dr Gillespie says the Republicans could legally deny the Democrats this right, and go straight to a discussion and vote without any witnesses.
"Right now the White House and the Senate will want to make sure no witnesses detrimental to the President will be allowed to appear."
The witness they fear most, Dr Gillespie says, is former national security adviser John Bolton.
"He was part of President Trump's team. He's at court at the moment seeing if he'd have the authority to speak against his former boss."
Unless Bolton is allowed to speak, Dr Gillespie says it's almost certain Trump will survive.
"He's very popular, the economy's going well. The only way that could change is if some new information was produced which showed he did something terribly wrong that really was a high crime. The only person who might have that information is John Bolton."
Separate polls on the impeachment have had different results. One commissioned by USA Today found a majority support Trump's removal from office, while another from Reuters found the opposite.
Dr Gillespie says the Republicans are sticking with him, despite his numerous lies and controversies, because he's "very popular on the ground".
"People have jobs, they have money in their pockets, people are feeling secure about the American identity and their place in the world. We may view him different internationally, but domestically he's very popular."
