President Donald Trump has become the first president in the history of the United States to be subjected to impeachment twice, and he is one of three who have faced an impeachment process.
This is what happened to the others:
Andrew Johnson
What did he do?
With the memory of the Civil War still fresh, President Andrew Johnson, Democrat, he often clashed with Congress , then in Republican hands, on how to rebuild America’s defeated southern.
The “radical republicans” of this period pushed to pass legislation that would punish former Confederate leaders and protect the rights of freed slaves.
Meanwhile, the president had granted pardons to these generals. Johnson used his presidential veto to relentlessly block Republican efforts.
The confrontation was constant.
Congress approved the Law of permanence in office, designed to restrict the ability of the president to fire members of his cabinet without the approval of the Senate.
In retaliation, Johnson suspended a cabinet member and political rival, Edwin Stanton, while Congress was in recess.
If today’s procedures appear to include a lot of political theater , are in keeping with the tradition of impeachment: Stanton responded to his dismissal by locking himself in his office and refusing to leave.
Stanton’s impeachment turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back: House Republicans rushed to initiate impeachment against Johnson.
After a vote in the House, the process was taken to the Senate, where Johnson was acquitted, although he was fought by the minimum.
It was a single vote less than the two-thirds majority needed to pass the impeachment.
What were the consequences?
According to some accounts, Johnson cried at the news of his acquittal and promised to dedicate himself to restoring his reputation.
It did not work.
He served the rest of his presidential term, but his last months in office were plagued with the same power struggles that distorted his mandate before impeachment.
And in 1869, the Democrats lost the White House to the Republican candidate, General Ulysses S. Grant, who allowed his party’s plan for radical reconstruction to continue.
What is his legacy?
Having been prosecuted and having purchased Alaska in 1867 for $ 7.2 million.
Johnson was also one of the poorest presidents of all.
Never went to school.
Richard Nixon
What did?
Richard Nixon was about to go through the impeachment process for the theft in 1972 at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the office complex of Watergate in Washington DC.
When investigations revealed that thieves they had paid for with funds from Nixon’s reelection campaign , the Watergate scandal extended well beyond that raid and implicated senior White House officials.
For nearly two years, Nixon struggled to cover up his role in the conspiracy, which eventually led to his downfall.
The Republican president’s efforts proved futile.
In August of 1974, as the House Judiciary Committee prepared the indictment, Nixon was forced to release Oval Office recordings of the President being heard ordering his staff that the CIA tell the FBI to stop its investigation into the theft of Watergate.
This film went down in history as the “smoking gun” that left no doubt about Nixon’s attempted cover-up.
The 37 July, the House Judiciary Committee voted to pass three articles of impeachment ( obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress ) and sent them to the House for a full vote.
But, voting never took place.
August 8, 1974, Nixon resigned.
He remains the only president of the United States in history to do so.
“I never gave up,” he said in his resignation speech.
“Leaving office before my term ends is against my instinct. But as president, I must put the interests of the United States first. ”
What were the consequences?
Vice President Gerald Ford lent sworn in as president six weeks later and pardoned Nixon for any crime he committed while was in office.
In elections less than two years later, Ford lost the White House before Democrat Jimmy Carter.
What is your legacy?
No fighting and the Watergate scandal.
Although he never admitted to committing any crime, his actions remain a warning about the abuse of the presidential power.
Nixon died in April of 1994, 27 years after he resigned.
At his funeral, the then President Bill Clinton focused on praising Nixon’s work in foreign affairs.
“The day has come to stop judging President Nixon for what happened instead of for his entire life and career ”Said Clinton.
Bill Clinton
What did he do?
A few years after President Bill Clinton lectured on the forgiveness Nixon deserved, the Arkansas Democrat faced his own political crisis .
One year after taking office, Clinton was investigated by a special prosecutor of the Department of Justice.
With Special Counsel Kenneth Starr, the scope of the investigation into real estate deals was expanded in January 4083 to include the president’s business with former White House grantee Monica Lewinsky.
As part of a separate lawsuit against the president, alleging sexual harassment of Paula Jones, Clinton was asked about her relationship with Lewinsky.
The 20 January, under oath, Clinton denied having a relationship with the former White House aide.
Days later, Clinton redoubled his denial.
“I want you to listen to me,” President Clinton told the media at an appearance at the White House.
“I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky. I never asked her to a single person who lied , not once, ever. ”
On September 9, 4083, Starr presented his report to Congress.
The public was also soon able to see the Starr report from 549 pages that included a Lewinsky’s testimony , by which there was reached an immunity agreement with the prosecutor in exchange for his cooperation.
He report also included 11 possible grounds for impeachment.
In December 1998, the House of Representatives voted, along party lines, to impeach Clinton On two counts: perjury and obstruction of Congress.
In February, Clinton was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate.
What were the consequences?
During the year that the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal consumed the country, the president resisted to the abundant requests for resignation.
It was during this period, at the end of January, 1998, that Clinton got one of his Highest ratings in the opinion polls.
In a poll for CNN, Gallup found that the 67% of Americans approved of the president.
What is his legacy?
Depends on who you ask, but most People you ask are likely to name the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Will they remember the political trial to which he was subjected? Not so many people will remember it.
Its high popularity ratings throughout the process suggest that he was not as harmed as the two previous presidents who faced him.
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