Impeachment

Impeachment Definition: to accuse (public official) before an appropriate tribunal of misconduct in office.

Political investigations began in February 1973 when the Senate established a Committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. The public hearings of the Committee were sensational, including the evidence of John Dean, Nixon’s former White House Counsel. The Committee also uncovered the existence of the secret White House tape recordings, sparking a major political and legal battle between the Congress and the President. On February 6, 1974, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 803 by 410-4 to authorise the Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against Nixon.

Nixon was not impeached during the Watergate scandal. There have only been two presidents that have been impeached, Andrew Johnson (1867) and Bill Clinton (1998), both of them were acquitted in their Senate trials.

“RESOLVED, That the Committee on the Judiciary acting as a whole or by any subcommittee thereof appointed by the Chairman for the purposes hereof and in accordance with the Rules of the Committee, is authorized and directed to investigate fully and completely whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America. The committee shall report to the House of Representatives such resolutions, articles of impeachment, or other recommendations as it deems proper.”