2023-12-14 13:41:56
The US Congress approved an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden on Wednesday, December 13. Conservatives, in the majority in the House of Representatives since January, accuse the head of state of having taken advantage of his influence as Barack Obama’s vice-president in the interest of his son Hunter Biden, who is at odds with American justice since 2018.
Before Joe Biden, several American presidents have already been threatened with impeachment. This is the case of Andrew Johnson in 1868, of Bill Clinton in 1998, and of Donald Trump in 2019 and 2021. However, none was impeached during the parliamentary vote. Richard Nixon, for his part, preferred to resign in 1974 in order to avoid an assured defeat, motivated by the Watergate scandal.
► Andrew Johnson, the first president threatened with impeachment in American history
In 1968, Democrat Andrew Johnson was the subject of impeachment proceedings. He is accused of having replaced his secretary of war without the prior consent of the Senate. And therefore, to have violated the “Tenure of Office Act”: a federal law in force until 1887, restricting the power of the president to dismiss senior executives of his government.
At the end of the investigation with a view to his impeachment, the president was indicted for 11 offenses punishable by impeachment in February 1868. At the end of the final vote of the Senate, however, he escaped the sanction by one vote, remaining in power, but lost his party’s nomination for the following presidential election.
► Richard Nixon, a resignation to anticipate impeachment
In 1974, the 37th President of the United States was splashed by the Watergate affair, revealed by two journalists from Washington Post. Two years earlier, five former White House employees were arrested for an attempted burglary of the Democratic Party offices, located in the Watergate Hotel, in Washington. One of them is a member of the committee for the re-election of Richard Nixon. Before a Senate committee, witnesses assured that Richard Nixon sought to hide the involvement of his own teams.
At the end of July 1974, a judicial commission upheld three complaints against the president: abuse of power, obstruction of justice and refusal to submit to subpoenas. Revelations of wiretapping of political opponents overwhelm the president. The American head of state opted to resign on August 9 of the same year, in order to escape impeachment. He was later pardoned by his successor in the White House, Gerald Ford.
► Bill Clinton, lying under oath about the nature of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky
The American Constitution provides that Congress can impeach the president if he is guilty of “treason, corruption or other major crimes”. In the case of Bill Clinton, the charge of perjury prevails.
In 1998, Bill Clinton denied under oath having had intimate relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He returned to this first testimony a few months later, this time admitting to having had a « relation inconvenante » with the latter, but not of a sexual nature. He then ends up recognizing a lie and expresses “ deep regrets”. Bill Clinton nevertheless escaped impeachment at the end of his trial before the Senate, due to lack of a majority in Congress.
► Donald Trump, two impeachment procedures launched, a record
In four years, two impeachment proceedings have been launched against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, a first in American history. At the end of 2019, he was indicted for “abuse of power” and “obstructing the proper functioning of Congress”. The procedure was launched amid suspicions of Russian interference and collusion between the candidate and the Russian secret services during the 2016 presidential election. On February 5, 2020, the Senate voted for his acquittal.
A second procedure is decided the day after the assault on the Capitol by rioters who seek to prevent the counting of votes in the presidential election. He is also accused of having put pressure on the Secretary of State of Georgia to change the result of the election in that state.
On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Donald Trump, charging him with “incitement to violence” against the United States government. He was acquitted a month later by the Senate after five days of debate, making it the shortest impeachment trial in American political history. Ten Republicans, however, voted for his conviction, while none had this choice during the first procedure in 2019.
#presidents #impeached #impeachment #pronounced