Which impeached presidents

Every other Republican voted to acquit, while every Democrat voted to convict. On obstruction of Congress, senators voted straight down party lines, James Pasley and Pamela Engel contributed to a previous version of this article. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts.

Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Grace Panetta and Lauren Frias. Former President Donald Trump is facing his second impeachment trial starting February 9.

Trump was also impeached by the House in December The Senate acquitted him on February 5. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached in Here's how the process went for them and how it compares with today's.

The aftermath of the Civil War set the stage for the first impeachment of a U. Johnson was a pro-Union Democrat who had refused to secede from the Union along with his state, Tennessee, during the war. However, he was also a racist who favored a lenient approach to Reconstruction, the process of bringing the states of the Confederacy back into the nation. This approach put him at odds with Congress.

The final straw came when he replaced Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee who sided with the Radical Republicans, a faction of the party that favored enfranchisement and civil rights for freed African Americans. Congress produced 11 articles of impeachment, which alleged that Johnson had violated the Tenure of Office Act — a law intended to limit presidential power to remove federal appointees from office — and had found a replacement without consulting the Senate.

Johnson was impeached by a two-thirds super majority of the House, and the case moved to the Senate for trial. Years later, the Supreme Court determined that the act was unconstitutional. When he was tried in the Senate, Johnson ultimately held onto his presidency by a single vote, after seven Republicans decided to vote with Senate Democrats to keep him in office.

They also claimed that Johnson intended to push the Act before the Supreme Court. Historian Hans L. The articles of impeachment alleged that Clinton had perjured himself by lying to investigators about his relationship with Lewinsky. They also said that he had obstructed justice by encouraging White House staff to deny the affair. Experts say that the effort to remove Clinton from office was doomed because public opinion turned against removing Clinton from office.

President Donald Trump was impeached on Dec. Republicans controlled the Senate with 53 votes, and used that power to keep the trial as short as possible. A majority of 51 Republicans voted against allowing subpoenas for additional documents or calling witnesses, one of whom would have been John Bolton, Mr. Trump's former national security advisor.

Bolton published a memoir later in , in which he confirmed the accusation that Mr. Trump withheld Ukraine's military aid to pressure the government into investigating the Bidens. On February 5, the Senate acquitted Mr.

Trump on both charges. The votes were on abuse of power, and on obstruction of Congress. Trump on the abuse of power charge — becoming the first senator to ever vote against a president of his own party in an impeachment trial.

Trump held a ceremony at the White House the next day celebrating his acquittal in a profanity-laced speech. Nine months after his acquittal, Mr. Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden. But the president refused to concede. In the two months after the election, Mr.

Trump insisted he won the race and spread false conspiracy theories about election fraud. His legal team filed dozens of challenges to the election results, all of which were shot down in court.

His falsehoods set off a "Stop The Steal" movement of supporters who wrongly insisted the election was rigged and sought to overturn the results. Biden's victory. The president told his supporters about 20 times to "fight" the election results, and said they should "demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. Capitol and said he would go with them, but he didn't go.

Thousands of supporters from the rally then marched to the U. Capitol, and hundreds broke through police lines and stormed the building to disrupt the vote count. Capitol Police evacuated Congress members as the rioters assaulted officers, ransacked offices and chanted for the deaths of lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence, whom Mr. Trump falsely claimed could overturn the election results. The insurrection led to five deaths, including a Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained in the attack.

During the Capitol assault, Mr. Trump posted a video on Twitter telling supporters, "We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. After several hours, the rioters were cleared from the Capitol, and Congress reconvened to the complete the vote count — the final step in confirming Mr. Trump's defeat. Lawmakers in both parties blamed Mr.

Trump for fueling the violence. Just five days after the attack, the Democrat-controlled House introduced an article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection. The article condemned Mr. Trump for his remarks before the riot as well as his earlier efforts to subvert his election loss, including a call to Georgia's secretary of state asking him to "find" votes to flip the state for Mr.

Trump would be "a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office," even though he only had a few days left. The House voted to approve the article on January 13, one week before the end of Mr. Trump's term. Ten Republicans joined all Democrats in the vote, making it the most bipartisan impeachment vote in U. It was also the highest vote tally ever in support of an impeachment article — breaking the previous record from Mr.

Tennessee seceded, but Johnson remained in Washington. In March of , President Lincoln rewarded Johnson's loyalty with appointment as military governor of Tennessee. When Lincoln sought a second presidential term in and needed the support of "Union Democrats," he chose Johnson as his running mate. Johnson became vice president on March 4, Forty-two days later, he was president of the United States.

The initial response to a Johnson presidency was optimistic. Even the so-called Radical Republicans, who would pursue impeachment proceedings three years later, supported the new president. Within weeks, Johnson opposed political rights for freedmen and called for a lenient reconstruction policy, including pardoning former Confederate leaders.

The president looked for every opportunity to block action by the Radical Republicans. He had no interest in compromise. When Johnson vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau bill in February of , he broke the final ties with his Republican opponents in Congress. They responded with the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, promising political rights to African Americans.

In March of they also passed, over Johnson's presidential veto, the Tenure of Office Act which was designed to limit the president's ability to shape his cabinet by requiring that not only appointments but also dismissals be approved by the Senate. By mid, Johnson's enemies in Congress were repeatedly promoting impeachment. The precipitant event that resulted in a third and successful impeachment action was the firing of Secretary of War Edwin M.

Stanton, a Lincoln appointee and ally of the Radical Republicans in Congress. Stanton had strongly opposed Johnson's Reconstruction policies and the president hoped to replace him with Ulysses S. Grant, whom Johnson believed to be more in line with his own political thinking. In August of , while Congress was in recess, Johnson suspended Stanton and appointed Grant as secretary of war ad interim. When the Senate opposed Johnson's actions and reinstated Stanton in the fall, Grant resigned, fearing punitive action and possible consequences for his own presidential ambitions.

Furious with his congressional opponents, Johnson fired Stanton and informed Congress of this action, then named Major General Lorenzo Thomas, a long-time foe of Stanton, as interim secretary. Stanton promptly had Thomas arrested for illegally seizing his office. This musical chair debacle amounted to a presidential challenge to the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act.

In response, having again reinstated Stanton to office, Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives, backed by key allies in the Senate, pursued impeachment. Led by an aging and ailing Thaddeus Stevens, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction rapidly drafted a resolution of impeachment , which passed the House on February 24, , by a vote of to Immediately, the House proceeded to establish an impeachment committee, appoint managers, and draft articles of impeachment.

The committee quickly produced charges that eventually became eleven articles of impeachment. Some of the charges were petty, but most centered on the president's alleged violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

Article 1 stated that Johnson ordered Stanton removed with the intent to violate the act. Articles 2, 3 and 8 alleged that the appointment of Thomas, to replace Stanton, without the advice and consent of the Senate was a further violation of the Constitution. Articles 4 through 7 accused Johnson of conspiring with Thomas to remove Stanton, citing such conspiracy as a "high crime in office," thus illegally depriving Stanton of his rightful position.

The 8th article charged Johnson with conspiring to deprive Stanton of his rightful possessions. Article 9 accused Johnson of diverting orders and instructions related to military operations through the general of the army, bypassing Secretary Stanton. Another article, proposed by Massachusetts representative Benjamin Butler, charged Johnson with making speeches "with a loud voice, certain intemperate, inflammatory, and scandalous harangues" with the intent to disgrace Congress.

This article was initially rejected, but later adopted as Article The final article was championed by Thaddeus Stevens, accusing Johnson of declaring the 39th Congress unconstitutional, since it was a Congress of only part of the states, and therefore did not have legislative powers nor the power to propose constitutional amendments.

This, argued Stevens, placed Johnson in violation of his presidential oath requiring him to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed. On March 2, , the House approved the first nine articles of impeachment with the final two articles approved the following day.

Amidst tremendous public attention and press coverage, the case moved to the Senate. Quickly, the Senate debated and adopted an updated set of 25 impeachment rules, setting the stage for the first presidential impeachment trial in U. On the advice of counsel, the president did not appear at the trial, although he did agree to a number of press interviews during the trial process.

Leading the president's defense team was Attorney General Henry Stanbery, who resigned his post to devote all of his attention to the trial. Four well-known and highly respected lawyers also donated their services, including William M.

Evarts of New York, Benjamin R. Nelson, an old friend of Johnson's from Tennessee, and William S. Groesbeck of Ohio. The defense presented a complicated argument, designed to raise doubt in the senators' minds about Johnson's intent and to question the role of criminality in impeachable offenses. They argued that Johnson's actions had not violated the Tenure of Office Act. Since Stanton had been appointed by Lincoln, Johnson was not obligated to continue his service. Even if the senators accepted the act as constitutional, the defense team insisted, Johnson could not be impeached for a mistaken interpretation of the law.