The 45th and current president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, has joined two former American presidents in the unenviable, ‘exclusive’ club of presidents that were impeached.
The House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump on September 24, following a whistle blower complaint claiming that the president abused his political power in exchange for an investigation into a political opponent, 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
House investigators were looking into whether or not Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country into conducting an investigation into the Bidens for corruption.
Trump has vehemently denied that there was any “quid pro quo” in his conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and has since blasted House Democrats for the impeachment investigation, equating it to the Salem witch trials.
On Wednesday, December 18, the House voted along party lines, earning a majority to charge the president on both counts. The House passed the abuse of power article by a vote of 230 to 197 to 1, and the obstruction of Congress article by a vote of 229 to 198 to 1.
Meanwhile, the impeached president has two predecessors who had also suffered the scourge of impeachment — Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
Andrew Johnson
Johnson was the first sitting president to ever face impeachment proceedings.
It all began when he removed his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office in 1867, which breached the Tenure of Office Act. The law meant he couldn’t fire any important officials without first getting Senate’s permission. At first, he had suspended Stanton and replaced him, but when Congress intervened and reinstated Stanton, Johnson fired him on February 21, 1868.
Three days later, on February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson by a vote of 126-47. The House said he’d violated the law and disgraced the US Congress.
From March to May 1868, over 11 weeks, the Senate tried Johnson’s case and finally voted to acquit him. The vote was 35 guilty to 19 not guilty. One more guilty vote would have met the required two-thirds that’s necessary for a conviction.
Clinton
Clinton is the second president to face impeachment proceedings. From early 1994, he was dealing with scandals, beginning with a financial investigation known as “Whitewater.”
That same year, Paula Jones sued him, accusing the president of sexual harassment. Clinton argued he had presidential immunity from civil cases, but in 1997, the Supreme Court rejected his argument.
In January 1998, during Jones’ case, Clinton denied under oath that he’d ever had an affair with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But news of Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky got out.
In July 1998, Clinton testified about the allegations that he’d committed perjury by lying about his affair with Lewinsky. And by August, he’d acknowledged having an affair with Lewinsky.
Lewinsky had also recorded conversations of her talking about the affair, and the transcripts of the conversation went public in October 1998.
On October 8, 1998, just days after the tapes were released, the House of Representatives voted for impeachment proceedings to begin against Clinton. In a report released in September by the independent counsel Kenneth Starr, there were 11 grounds for impeachment.
On December 11, 1998, the House approved three articles of impeachment along party lines – charging Clinton had lied to a grand jury, committed perjury by denying his relationship with Lewinsky, and obstructed justice. The next day, a fourth article was approved, which accused Clinton of abusing his power.
On December 19, 1998, the House impeached Clinton for two of the articles – perjury and obstructing justice. The votes were 228-206 and 221-212, respectively, also largely along party lines. Despite being impeached, Clinton refused to step down.
Clinton was tried by the Senate and acquitted on February 12, 1999.
His perjury charge had a vote of 55 not guilty to 45 guilty, and his obstruction-of-justice charge was 50 not guilty to 50 guilty. They didn’t meet the two-thirds majority necessary to convict.
culled from Business Insider
