3 Presidents, 3 Public Impeachments
Nixon, Clinton, and now Trump. This is how the story impeachment story repeats itself.
The Founders of the Constitution intentionally made it difficult for Congress to remove a sitting president
Only two U.S. presidents have been formally impeached by Congress—Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton—and no U.S. president has ever been removed from office through impeachment. In addition to Johnson and Clinton, only two other U.S. presidents have faced formal impeachment inquiries in the House of Representatives: Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. Many other presidents have been threatened with impeachment by political foes without gaining any real traction in Congress. 3 presidents, 3 impeachments playing out on national television with striking similarities.
The authors of the Constitution intentionally made it difficult for Congress to remove a sitting president. The impeachment process starts in the House of Representatives with a formal impeachment inquiry. If the House Judiciary Committee finds sufficient grounds, its members write and pass articles of impeachment, which then go to the full House for a vote. A simple majority in the House is all that’s needed to formally impeach a president. But that doesn’t mean he or she is out of a job. The final stage is the Senate impeachment trial. Only if two-thirds of the Senate find the president guilty of the crimes laid out in the articles of impeachment is the POTUS removed from office. Although Congress has impeached and removed eight federal officials—all federal judges—no president has ever been found guilty during a Senate impeachment trial. Andrew Johnson came awfully close, though; he barely escaped a guilty verdict by one vote.
Clinton was plagued by legal troubles and scandals from the moment he entered the White House. In 1993, Clinton and his First Lady, Hillary, were the subject of a Justice Department investigation into the so-called Whitewater controversy, a botched business deal from their days in Arkansas. And in 1994, Clinton was sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones, who claimed Clinton exposed himself to her in a hotel room in 1991. Interestingly, it was a combination of both legal cases that would ultimately lead to Clinton’s impeachment. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr was appointed by the Justice Department to investigate the Whitewater affair, but he couldn’t find any impeachable evidence. Meanwhile, lawyers for Jones got a tip that Clinton had an affair with a 21-year-old White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, a claim that both Lewinsky and Clinton denied under oath.
Starr switched the focus of his investigation when he received 20 hours of taped phone conversations between Lewinsky and Linda Tripp, a former White House colleague, in which Lewinsky alludes to the affair. Starr then got the FBI to fit Tripp with a wire to meet with Lewinsky at a Ritz-Carlton hotel outside Washington, DC, when Lewinsky again admitted to a sexual relationship with the president. When the story went public, Clinton was forced to address the accusations on national television according to History.com
Brut.
621 comments
Darla S.
07/31/2020 19:36Both Clinton’s and Trump’s were a waist of tax payers moneys. Both times the house new that the Senate would acquit, but still continued! Both parties are guilty of waisting tax payer funds! It’s absolutely sickening!
David A.
07/29/2020 19:53Shut your f****** mind you lying piece of trash
Kenni B.
07/25/2020 06:52Stop your aganda brut...
Kelly R.
07/21/2020 17:31All I'm saying is there's some creepy leader ship in this world and it's just not ours
Thuralin
07/20/2020 19:34Brut
Dan S.
06/04/2020 21:14Why do you want to rely on President Trump for tell him don't put him in the same class with Clinton and Nixon but you did
Michael L.
05/14/2020 20:27Three low form of scum
Hannes H.
01/11/2020 19:39Trump 2020.
Jana I.
01/01/2020 07:30Clinton lied under oath, Nixon covered up a criminal act by his reelection committee. Both are crimes. Trump has committed no crime
Scott S.
01/01/2020 06:33Only difference here Brut, is President Trump is not lying nor has he been convicted of such.
Robby J.
01/01/2020 03:58Trumps not gonna get impeached! Fact
Walter L.
01/01/2020 01:19What impeachment? Nancy stole the evidence lol
Roland M.
01/01/2020 00:52The first two were liars. Trump is not. KAG 2020
Ree C.
12/31/2019 22:07Well let's see Nixon they had the tapes. Guilt... Clinton they has dress. Guilty.... Trump they have the letter. No high crimes or misdemeanors. Not guilty. That's the difference between the impeachment. Not to mention we all know that the Democrats started impeachment the day President Trump was sworn in. We've all been through the collusion illusion. The Kavanaugh hearing illusion. Now the Democrats are holding back the impeachment. President Trump has not been impeached. So he shouldn't be compared to these presidents. The articles of impeachment never made it to the Senate. The end
Rick T.
12/31/2019 20:21But it has NOT repeated itself as this generation of Democrats are nothing more than desperate LIARS and it shows in everything they say and do.
Chris K.
12/31/2019 16:39No one can still provide any information on what crime he actually committed LMFAO if they were so confident they would have already handed over the articles of impeachment to the Senate
Lawrence D.
12/31/2019 13:28Nixon wasn't impeached.
Robert K.
12/31/2019 13:02F--K YOU BRUT WHO'S PAYING YOU OFF
Bob P.
12/31/2019 11:38Nixon was never impeached
Floyd S.
12/31/2019 07:43There was evidence on the two prior presidents. Trump is just he say, she say circus.