List of efforts to impeach presidents of the United States
Additionally, impeachment proceedings were commenced against two other presidents, John Tyler, in 1843, and Richard Nixon, in 1974, for his role in the Watergate scandal, but he resigned from office after the House Judiciary Committee adopted three articles of impeachment against him (1. obstruction of justice, 2. abuse of power, and 3. contempt of Congress), but before the House could vote on either article.
The Tenure of Office Act was enacted over Johnson's veto to curb his power and he openly violated it in early 1868.
[9] On October 8, 1998, the House of Representatives voted to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Bill Clinton, in part because of allegations that he lied under oath when being investigated in the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal.
[23] Trump was impeached for a second time after he was alleged to incite a deadly attack on the United States Capitol by attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results after his loss to Joe Biden.
The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress for his role in the Watergate scandal.
[36] On October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, precipitating the Saturday Night Massacre.
In September 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon for any crimes against the United States that he might have committed while president.
Her articles of impeachment claimed that Viktor Shokin was investigating the founder of Burisma Holdings, a natural gas giant in Ukraine.
[48] Following the withdrawal of American military forces from Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, and the subsequent attack on Kabul's airport, several Republicans, including Representative Greene, Lauren Boebert, Ronny Jackson, and especially Senators Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham, called for either the stripping of powers and duties (via the 25th Amendment) or removal from office (via impeachment) of Joe Biden if Americans and allies were left behind and held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
[51] Some Republicans, including Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn, called for Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden's other Cabinet officials to be removed as well.
[52][better source needed] Mitch McConnell did not call for an impeachment inquiry into Biden, however, as Republicans do not have the majority in either the house or senate.
[54] In August The Hill reported that impeaching Biden was "a top priority" for House Republicans, should they win control of that body in the 2022 mid-term elections,[55] as they eventually did.
In June 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a rule that referred an impeachment resolution against President Joe Biden to a committee.
The referral to the committee effectively paused a move to bring a privileged motion to the floor, which would have required members of the House to vote on whether to impeach President Biden.
The resolution was met with division among House Republicans, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged members of the GOP to vote against it.
[57] In December, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, the whole House voted 221-213 to formally initiate an impeachment inquiry.
[58] The committees — Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means — jointly reported findings in August 2024 that alleged several impeachable offenses and withholding of evidence.
[59] On January 25, 1809, Rep. Josiah Quincy III (a Federalist from Massachusetts) introduced resolutions which would launch an impeachment inquiry into President Thomas Jefferson, by then a lame duck who was scheduled to leave office on March 4, 1809.
Quincy argued that, by leaving Lincoln in the post, Jefferson had unfairly enabled a federal official to receive a $5,000 annual salary, "for doing no services".
[60] Congressmen argued that the act of requesting Lincoln remain in office was not a high crime nor a misdemeanor, and that there was not even evidence of inefficient management of the customs house.
[69] Rep. Milford W. Howard (Populist-AL), on May 23, 1896, submitted a resolution (H.Res 374) impeaching President Grover Cleveland for selling unauthorized federal bonds and breaking the Pullman Strike.
[70] During the 1932–33 lame duck session of Congress, on December 13, 1932, and on January 17, 1933, Rep. Louis Thomas McFadden (R-PA) introduced two impeachment resolutions against President Herbert Hoover, over economic grievances.
The Senate held hearings, and a year later, Representatives George H. Bender and Paul W. Shafer separately introduced House bills 607 and 614 against President Truman.
On April 22, 1952, Rep. Noah M. Mason (R-IL) suggested that impeachment proceedings should be started against President Harry S. Truman for seizing the nation's steel mills.
[70] In 1983, Representative Henry B. González was joined by Ted Weiss, John Conyers Jr., George Crockett Jr., Julian C. Dixon, Mervyn M. Dymally, Gus Savage and Parren J. Mitchell in proposing a resolution impeaching Reagan for "the high crime or misdemeanor of ordering the invasion of Grenada in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and other high crime or misdemeanor ancillary thereto.
34 was introduced on January 16, 1991, and was referred to the House Committee on Judiciary and then its Subcommittee on Economic and Commercial Law on March 18, 1992.
[85] On May 3, 1968, a petition to impeach President Lyndon B. Johnson for "military and political duplicity" was referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
