US Presidents who were impeached or were facing impeachment

 Impeachment is the act or process of removing a public official—formally accusing them of misconduct, committed while in office. India has never seen a President getting impeached, but for the USA, the scenario is quite different.

While none of the US Presidents have been impeached officially by both the houses of US Congress, some have faced the charge and have been officially impeached by one house.

1. President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

The US Congress in 1867 passed the Tenure of Office Act, which required the President to seek Congress’s approval, before firing elected officials.

Still, in August that year, President Johnson violated the act and fired the secretary of war Edwin M Stanton. In January 1868, the house reappointed Stanton.

An impeachment process was started against Johnson with 11 articles, ranging from violating the act to illegal use of war department funds.

On February 24, 1868, he was officially impeached by the House of Representatives, but was later saved by the Senate in May 1868 as the process could not gather two-thirds of the votes.

The infamous Watergate scandal is what Richard Nixon would be remembered for, throughout the history.

The Washington Post broke out the story of the President's involvement in the scandal, where five men were caught trying to bug the offices of their political opponent the Democrats, at the Watergate Complex on June 17, 1972.

The battle for Oval Offices secret tapes (which would have proved Nixon guilty) went on for two years and on May 9, 1974, the hearings for the impeachment process started against him.

After losing the major political support, on August 9, 1974, he resigned from the office voluntarily, before the impeachment could be carried out. He was later pardoned of all the charges, by his vice president and successor, Gerald Ford.

3. President Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Bill Clinton was the second president in the history of the US to be impeached by the house on December 19, 1998. Impeachment proceedings were based on two allegations.

One, obstructing the justice to cover up his relationship with a 22-year-old White House employee Monica Lewinsky, and second, Perjury (lying under oath) in his testimony against a sexual harassment lawsuit by Paula Jones.

He was later acquitted of both the charges in Senate on February 12, 1999, as they could not attain two-third majority in this case too.

4. President Donald J Trump (2017-2021)

President Donald J Trump has created history when it comes to impeachment. The process against him has been conducted twice, although both the times he was saved by the republican majority senate.

The first was started in December 2019 on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. He was accused of soliciting foreign interference, in the 2020 US presidential election.

The second impeachment was in January 2021. He was accused of instigating the violent coup in US Capitol through his speech on January 6, 2021, after losing his re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden.

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