Four U.S. presidents have faced impeachment proceedings: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1974, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021. Three were formally impeached by the House of Representatives. Nixon resigned before the full House could vote. None was convicted by the Senate, and none was removed from office.
Impeached Is Not the Same as Removed
The Constitution splits the process between the two chambers of Congress. The House has the sole power to impeach, which means bringing formal charges by a simple majority vote on one or more articles of impeachment.1Legal Information Institute (LII). The Power of Impeachment Overview The case then moves to the Senate for a trial. When a sitting president is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides. House-appointed impeachment managers act as prosecutors.2Legal Information Institute. The Power to Try Impeachments: Overview
Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of the senators present. Only conviction removes an official from office. The Senate can also vote separately to bar a convicted person from ever holding federal office again.3U.S. Senate. About Impeachment The Constitution limits impeachable offenses to “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”4Cornell Law School / Legal Information Institute (LII). Offices Eligible for Impeachment So a president can be impeached and still finish the term, which is what has happened every time.
Andrew Johnson, 1868
Johnson was the first. The clash between Johnson and Congress centered on Reconstruction, and it broke open when he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate approval. Congress had passed the Tenure of Office Act specifically to prevent that kind of unilateral cabinet change, and Johnson’s move was treated as a direct challenge to the law.5U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868
The House brought eleven articles, most focused on the alleged violation of that statute, and voted to impeach on February 24, 1868.6Library of Congress. The Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson The Senate trial ended on May 16, 1868, with acquittal. On three articles put to a vote, the result was identical each time: 35 guilty, 19 not guilty. A clear majority voted to convict, but the tally fell one vote short of two-thirds.5U.S. Senate. Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868 Johnson served out his term.
Richard Nixon, 1974
Nixon is often lumped in with the impeached presidents, but he was never actually impeached. The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles against him in late July 1974, and Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before the full House could vote.7Library of Congress. President Richard Nixon and Impeachable Offenses
The charges grew out of Watergate. The first article accused Nixon of obstructing justice by trying to block the investigation into the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters. The second charged him with abusing the power of his office by using federal agencies to harass political opponents and authorizing illegal break-ins targeting private citizens. The third accused him of defying the Judiciary Committee by refusing to comply with its subpoenas.8Legal Information Institute (LII). Impeachable Offenses: Effort to Impeach Richard Nixon
The committee votes crossed party lines. Obstruction of justice passed 27–11, abuse of power 28–10, and contempt of Congress 21–17. With Republican leaders warning that conviction in the Senate was virtually certain, Nixon chose to resign. He remains the only president to leave office that way.
Bill Clinton, 1998
Clinton became the second president to be impeached on December 19, 1998. The House approved two articles: perjury before a federal grand jury and obstruction of justice. Both grew out of Clinton’s testimony in a sexual harassment lawsuit and his efforts to conceal a relationship with a White House intern during the investigation led by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
The Senate trial began in January 1999 and ended on February 12 with acquittal on both counts. On perjury, 45 senators voted guilty and 55 not guilty. On obstruction, the Senate split 50–50.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Cases Neither count came close to the 67 votes needed for conviction, and the prosecution failed to get even a bare majority on the first article. Clinton finished his second term.
Donald Trump, 2019 and 2021
Trump is the only president to be impeached twice.
The first impeachment came in December 2019 on two articles: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The abuse of power charge alleged that Trump pressured Ukraine to announce investigations into a political rival while withholding military aid Congress had already approved. The obstruction charge accused him of directing administration officials to defy congressional subpoenas during the House inquiry. The Senate tried the case in January and February 2020. On abuse of power, the vote was 48 guilty and 52 not guilty. On obstruction of Congress, it was 47 guilty and 53 not guilty.10U.S. Senate. Roll Call Vote 116th Congress – 2nd Session Senator Mitt Romney became the first senator in American history to vote to convict a president of his own party.
The second impeachment happened on January 13, 2021, one week after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The single article charged Trump with incitement of insurrection. The House moved faster than in any previous impeachment, with no formal committee investigation before the vote.
The Senate trial did not begin until after Trump had already left office on January 20, raising a question that had never been definitively resolved: can the Senate try a former official? The Senate voted 56–44 that the trial was constitutional and proceeded. Because Trump was no longer the sitting president, Chief Justice John Roberts did not preside; Senator Patrick Leahy, the president pro tempore, did. The final vote was 57 guilty and 43 not guilty, with seven Republican senators joining all 50 Democrats in voting to convict. The tally fell 10 short of the two-thirds threshold, and Trump was acquitted.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Cases
What Acquittal Does and Does Not Mean
Impeachment penalties are deliberately limited. The Constitution caps the consequences at removal from office and, optionally, a ban on holding future federal office, and that second penalty requires a separate Senate vote after conviction.3U.S. Senate. About Impeachment Because no president has ever been convicted, neither has been applied to one.
Acquittal in a Senate trial does not shield a president from criminal prosecution for the same conduct. The Constitution’s Impeachment Judgment Clause is explicit: even a convicted official remains “liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.”11Library of Congress. Article 1 Section 3 Clause 7 Impeachment is a political process. The criminal justice system runs on its own track.
How far that criminal track reaches after a presidency is unsettled. In Trump v. United States (2024), the Supreme Court held that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, while leaving open the possibility of prosecution for unofficial conduct.12Supreme Court of the United States. Trump v. United States
Presidents Are the Rarest Impeachment Targets
Presidents get the headlines, but impeachment has been used more often against federal judges. The Senate has conducted proceedings against 21 individuals in total, and every official actually removed from office through impeachment has been a judge. Eight federal judges have been convicted and removed. Two cabinet members have also been impeached: Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, acquitted after he had already resigned, and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, whose charges the Senate dismissed without a trial.9U.S. Senate. Impeachment Cases The pattern across four presidential trials is consistent: senators may agree a president acted badly and still conclude that removal is too drastic a remedy.