The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the authority to remove the president of the United States from office in two separate proceedings. The first one takes place in the House of Representatives, which impeaches the president by approving articles of impeachment through a simple majority vote. The second proceeding, the impeachment trial, takes place in the Senate. There, conviction on any of the articles requires a two-thirds majority vote and would result in the removal from office (if currently sitting), and possible debarment from holding future office.

Many U.S. presidents have been subject to demands for impeachment by groups and individuals. Three presidents have been impeached, although none were convicted: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump twice, in 2019 and 2021. 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 any article.

Impeachments Andrew Johnson

President Andrew Johnson held open disagreements with Congress, who tried to remove him several times. The Tenure of Office Act was enacted over Johnson's veto to curb his power and he openly violated it in early 1868.

The House of Representatives adopted 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson.

Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided over Johnson's Senate trial. Conviction failed by one vote in May 1868. The impeachment trial remained a unique event for 130 years.

Bill Clinton

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.

On December 19, 1998, two articles of impeachment were approved by the House, charging Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Arkansas state employee Paula Jones and from Clinton's testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. They were:

Article I, charged Clinton with perjury.Text of Article I Washington Post December 20, 1998. Article II, charged Clinton with obstruction of justice.Text of Article IIII Washington Post December 20, 1998.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist presided over Clinton's Senate trial. Both articles of impeachment failed to receive the required super-majority, and so Clinton was acquitted and was not removed from office.

Donald Trump

First impeachment

After a whistleblower accused President Donald Trump of pressuring a foreign government to interfere on Trump's behalf prior to the 2020 election, the House initiated an impeachment inquiry. On December 10, 2019, the Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment (H.Res. 755): abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. On December 18, 2019, the House voted to impeach Trump on two charges:

Abuse of power by "pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals ahead of the 2020 election while withholding a White House meeting and $400 million in U.S. security aid from Kyiv." Obstruction of Congress by directing defiance of subpoenas issued by the House and ordering officials to refuse to testify.

On January 31, 2020, the Senate voted 51–49 against calling witnesses or issuing subpoenas for any additional documents. On February 5, 2020, the Senate found Trump not guilty of abuse of power, by a vote of 48–52, with Republican senator Mitt Romney being the only senator—and the first senator in U.S. history—to cross party lines by voting to convict, and not guilty of obstruction of Congress, by a vote of 47–53.

Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump's first trial. As both articles of impeachment failed to receive the required super-majority, Trump was acquitted and was not removed from office.

Second impeachment

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. On January 13, 2021, the House voted to impeach Trump for "Incitement of Insurrection".

Although Trump's term ended on January 20, the trial in the Senate began on February 9. On February 13, the Senate found Trump not guilty of incitement of insurrection, by a vote of 57 for conviction and 43 against, below the 67 votes needed for a supermajority. In previous impeachment proceedings, only one senator had ever voted to convict a president of their own party. This time, seven Republican senators found Trump guilty, making it the most bipartisan impeachment trial.

As Trump was no longer president, the president pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy presided over Trump's second trial. As the article of impeachment failed to receive the required supermajority, Trump was acquitted.

Table of impeachment trial results + Impeachment trial votes Vote Guilty Not guilty Result Votes % Votes % Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson Article II 35 64.82% 19 35.19% Acquittal Article III 35 64.82% 19 35.19% Acquittal Article XI 35 64.82% 19 35.19% Acquittal Articles I, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X no vote held Acquittal Impeachment trial of Bill Clinton Article I 45 45% 55 55% Acquittal Article II 50 50% 50 50% Acquittal First impeachment trial of Donald Trump Article I 48 48% 52 52% Acquittal Article II 47 47% 53 53% Acquittal Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump 57 57% 43 43% Acquittal

Resignation during an impeachment process Richard Nixon

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.

On October 20, 1973, Nixon ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, precipitating the Saturday Night Massacre. A massive reaction took place, especially in Congress, where 17 resolutions were introduced between November 1, 1973, and January 1974: H.Res. 625, H.Res. 635, H.Res. 643, H.Res. 648, H.Res. 649, H.Res. 650, H.Res. 652, H.Res. 661, H.Res. 666, H.Res. 686, H.Res. 692, H.Res. 703, H.Res. 513, H.Res. 631, H.Res. 638, and H.Res. 662. H.Res. 803, passed February 6, authorized a Judiciary Committee investigation, and in July, that committee approved three articles of impeachment. Before the House took action, the impeachment proceedings against Nixon were made moot when Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. A report containing articles of impeachment was accepted by the full House on August 20, 1974, by a vote of 412–3.

Although Nixon was never formally impeached, this is the only impeachment attempt to result in the president resigning from office. In September 1974, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon for any crimes against the United States that he might have committed while president.

Investigations without impeachment James Buchanan In 1860, the House of Representatives set up the United States House Select Committee to Investigate Alleged Corruptions in Government, known as the Covode Committee after its chairman, Rep. John Covode (R-PA), to investigate President James Buchanan on suspicion of bribery and other allegations. After about a year of hearings, the committee concluded that Buchanan's actions did not merit impeachment.

Andrew Johnson

On January 7, 1867, the House of Representatives voted to approve an impeachment inquiry run by the House Committee on the Judiciary, which initially ended in a June 3, 1867 vote by the committee to recommend against forwarding articles of impeachment to the full House. However, on November 25, 1867, the House Committee on the Judiciary, which had not previously forwarded the result of its inquiry to the full House, reversed their previous decision, and voted in a 5–4 vote to recommend impeachment proceedings, however, the full House rejected this recommendation by a 108–56 vote. Johnson would later, separately, be impeached in 1868.

Joe Biden

On January 21, 2021, the day after the inauguration of Joe Biden, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed articles of impeachment against the president. She cited abusing his power while serving as vice president. Her articles of impeachment claimed that Viktor Shokin was investigating the founder of Burisma Holdings, a natural gas giant in Ukraine. Biden's son Hunter Biden had served as a member of the board since 2014. However, Shokin was not investigating the company. There is no concrete evidence that suggests Biden had pressured Ukraine to benefit his son.

In June 2021, Donald Trump expressed interest in running for a House of Representatives seat in Florida in the 2022 midterm elections, getting himself elected Speaker of the House, and then beginning an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, and the subsequent attack at Kabul International Airport, several Republicans, including 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 Biden if Americans and allies were left behind and held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pledged a “day of reckoning” against Biden. Some Republicans, including Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn, called for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Cabinet officials to be removed as well. Mitch McConnell did not call for an impeachment inquiry into Biden, however, as Republicans did not have the majority in either the House or Senate.

In January 2022, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) predicted that if Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 elections, they would likely move to impeach Biden "whether it's justified or not". 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, as they eventually did.

In June 2023, the House voted to pass a rule that referred an impeachment resolution against Biden to a committee. The resolution was offered by Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado. 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 Biden. The resolution was met with division among House Republicans, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged members of the GOP to vote against it. Boebert stated that she pushed for the vote to force her colleagues to make difficult decisions.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy in September 2023 directed three House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry. In December, under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson, the whole House voted 221-213 to formally initiate an impeachment inquiry. The committees — Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means — jointly reported findings in August 2024 that alleged several impeachable offenses and withholding of evidence.

Inquiries voted down by the full House Thomas Jefferson