Who’s impeached? I’m Mr. Beat. In this video- Clone: Impeached you say? (awkward pause) Yeah Clone: Who’s impeached? Are you mocking me? Clone: No, like, I want to
know. Who has been impeached. Oh, well, here’s every
impeachment in American history Clone: All of them, or just the Presidents? ALL OF THEM. Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha First of all, let’s define
what “impeachment” means. Well, here’s what it’s not.
Impeachment DOES NOT mean kicking someone out of office.
Impeachment, in a general sense, just means charging someone in public office
of wrongdoing. Today, in the United States, it basically just means charging someone in
public office with a crime. Not convicting them- remember Americans, we are all innocent
until proven guilty in a court of law. According to Article Two, Section Four
of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all Civil
Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction
of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” It’s worth noting that “high Crimes
and Misdemeanors” is uh…up for interpretation. Oh, and while impeachment may happen at
the state level, in this video we’re just going to focus on every impeachment in
American history at the federal level. According to Article One, Section
Two, Clause Five of the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives are the only
ones who have the power to impeach. First, a U.S. Representative must introduce an
impeachment resolution. ANY member of the House of Representatives may do this against ANY
federal public official. Not just the President, Vice President, members of the Cabinet, and other
federal officials in the executive branch…but also judges and even members of Congress! The
resolution is then referred to a committee- usually the House Judiciary Committee, which
investigates the charges against the public official and decides whether or not to recommend
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT. If they do recommend it, it goes to the entire House of Representatives
for a vote, baby. If a majority of the House votes in favor of ANY of the articles of
impeachment, that official is impeached. But the party’s just getting
started, Joseph. (pause) By the way, I’m sorry if your name isn’t Joseph. The process then moves to the United States
Senate, which holds a freaking trial to determine whether or not the impeached official
is guilty of the crime. The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court presides over the
whole dang thing, while U.S. Senators act as both jurors and judges. Some of the members of the
U.S. House manage the whole thing as prosecutors, presenting evidence against the impeached
official and arguing the case for their removal. The official being impeached and their
lawyers may also present a defense, of course. When the trial is all over, a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to convict and
remove the public official from office. If the official is convicted, not
only are they kicked out of office, but they may also be forbidden from
holding any future federal office. So here is every impeachment in American
history- (looking over at clone) what? (pause) Oh, the sponsor? Clone: (shaking head) The sponsor. This video is once again
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or dial #529 from your cell phone. (looking over) (hesitating) Ok, so here is- Thanks to Morgan and Morgan for
sponsoring this video. (looking over)
(hesitating) Ok, so here is…every Impeachment in American
history…and we’re going in chronological order. The first American to be impeached was
the only member of Congress to ever be impeached. William Blount, a U.S. Senator
from Tennessee, got impeached on July 7, 1797, for conspiring to help the British seize
the Spanish-controlled territories of Louisiana and Florida. Blount had hoped doing that
would boost land prices so he could have a way to pay off his debts. While the members of
the Senate did vote to expel him, they ultimately decided they didn’t have the authority
to convict him and dismissed his charges. Next up was John Pickering, a judge for
the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. The House impeached him on
March 2, 1803 on charges of drunkenness and “unlawful rulings.” Whatever that means,
amirite? The Senate found him guilty. Pickering was the first judge to
be impeached and first person in American history convicted and removed
from office in an impeachment trial. On the exact same day the Senate kicked
Pickering out, the House impeached its first and only SUPREME COURT JUSTICE.
And the charges were kind of…ridiculous. On March 12, 1804, the House impeached Justice
Samuel Chase for being biased in his judicial rulings. I’m not joking. I mean, there were
actually EIGHT specific articles of impeachment, but that’s what all of them pretty much came
down to. Three of them were about supposed procedural errors. One was for saying
offensive stuff. While the House tried to cancel Chase for what seemed to be purely
political reasons, the Senate found him “not guilty” of all charges. Chase remains the only
Supreme Court Justice to ever be impeached. It’d be 25 years before the next
impeachment. On April 24, 1830, the House impeached THIS dude, James Peck, for
abusing his power in bankruptcy cases. Peck, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the
District of Missouri, had put another dude named Luke Lawless in jail for writing a letter in
a local newspaper talking trash about him. Well, after that, Lawless made it his life’s mission to
take Peck down, and he apparently was a big reason for Peck’s eventual impeachment. However, the
Senate found Peck “not guilty” by just one vote. Next up was another judge, and this one
was more understandable. On May 19, 1862, the House impeached West Humphreys, a judge for
the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee for basically just supporting
the Confederacy during the American Civil War, man. The articles of impeachment included
charges of publicly calling for secession, giving aid to an armed rebellion, conspiring
with the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, acting as a judge for the Confederacy,
imprisoning a Union sympathizer, and stealing property from Supreme Court Justice
John Catron and Tennessee Governor Andrew Johnson. Geez dude. Holy moly. The Senate unanimously
convicted Humphreys of all charges except one, kicked him out of office and prohibited him
from holding office for the United States for the rest of his life. Uh yeah, he became a
Confederate judge after that. Oh, and the one charge Humphreys avoided was stealing Andrew
Johnson’s property. Because I guess no one liked Andrew Johnson. Hey speaking of Andrew
Johnson, he was the next American impeached! On February 22, 1868, Andrew Johnson was
now President of these here United States, and became the first President impeached. Yay. The
House, made up of a bunch of Radical Republicans who hated his guts, impeached him for violating
a law called the Tenure of Office Act, a law…you could argue…the House helped pass because
they knew Johnson would break it. Anyway, the law said President Johnson had to get the
U.S. Senate’s permission before he fired any executive officer whom a President had
appointed. Well, Johnson DIDN’T get the Senate’s permission before he fired the Secretary
of War, Edwin Stanton. Oops. The House presented ELEVEN articles of impeachment against him,
but I’m not going to get into them, ok? Long story short, the Senate voted
AGAINST convicting Johnson and he stayed in office. He didn’t get kicked out
of office…BY ONE FREAKING VOTE. Edmund Ross, a Senator from Kansas, cast the single,
deciding vote, and it took everyone by surprise, because he apparently had changed his mind. Why
did he change his mind? Well, to this day, no one knows for sure, but some say he may have
been bribed. Don’t you just love politics? The next impeachment came
for this dude, Mark Delahay, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the
District of Kansas. He suffered from alcoholism, but not the high functioning kind. On February
28, 1873, the House impeached him on charges of drunkenness while on the bench. During the trial,
Robert Crozier, another Senator from Kansas, testified, “I am compelled to say that Judge
Delahay frequently becomes inebriated. I have seen him in that condition very frequently off
the bench, and several times on it.” However, his impeachment never reached the
Senate because he resigned before then. Next up was the only Cabinet member
to get impeached in American history. The House impeached William Belknap, the U.S.
Secretary of War under President Ulysses Grant, on March 1, 1876, on charges of corruption related
to his sale of military trading post positions. More specifically, they said he accepted about
$400,000 worth of bribes in today’s money. This became known as the Trader Joe’s scandal.
Oops…uh no…I mean the “Trader post scandal.” However, Belknap resigned before the Senate
started his impeachment trial. Regardless, the Senate didn’t have the 2/3
majority of votes needed to find him guilty. Belknap never got
in trouble for those bribes. For the next 123 years in American, only federal judges got impeached.
Eight of them, to be precise. The House impeached Charles Swayne,
a judge for the U.S. District for the Northern District of Florida, on December
13, 1904 on charges of corruption. There were 12 articles of impeachment, including
accepting gifts and payments from lawyers, fraud, living outside of his district,
improperly influencing a grand jury, and the “improper use of private railroad cars.”
Even though Swayne’s own lawyers admitted he was guilty of some of that stuff, the Senate found
him “not guilty” on all articles. Lucky Swayne. The House impeached Robert Archbald, a judge for
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, on July 13, 1912 on charges of corruption
and uh…general misconduct. There were 13 articles of impeachment, including using his
position to make money in both the railroad industry and in real estate. The Senate voted
to convict him on four of the charges and he was kicked out of office and forbidden
from ever holding public office again. Despite this, Archbald never admitted to
any wrongdoing for the rest of his life. The House impeached George English, a judge
for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois, on April 1, 1926, also on
charges of corruption. There were five articles of impeachment, including charges of playing
favorites in bankruptcy court with his son. The Senate ended up dismissing his impeachment
charges after English resigned from office. The House impeached Harold Louderback, a judge
for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, on February 24, 1933,
also on charges of corruption. There were four articles of impeachment, including charges of
improperly influencing a grand jury and one-sided communications during trials. However, apparently
not many Senators even showed up for Louderback's impeachment trial, and the Senate didn’t have the
2/3 majority of votes needed to find him guilty. The House impeached Halstead Ritter, a judge
for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, on March 2, 1936, on
charges of general misconduct. There were seven articles of impeachment, including
charges of interfering with a grand jury, playing favorites, and tax evasion. The Senate
found him “not guilty” on all charges…except one. They found him guilty of "bringing his court
into disrepute, to the prejudice of said court and public confidence in the administration of justice
... and to the prejudice of public respect for and confidence in the federal judiciary." Ok, I
couldn’t figure out what that actually meant, but the Senate voted to kick him out of
office with an exact 2/3 majority vote. Thanks to perhaps the New Deal Coalition, it’d
be another 50 years before the next impeachment. That next impeachment came on March 16, 1986,
against an infamous dude who once was a lawyer for entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Dean
Martin. Harry Claiborne. In 1986, he was Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District
of Nevada. The House impeached him on charges of tax evasion and filing false income tax returns.
The House voted to impeach him by a vote of 406-0. It was the first of
only two UNANIMOUS impeachment votes in history. It was unanimous because…well…he had already been
convicted of tax evasion, and had even served 17 months in prison. There were four articles of
impeachment against him, all dealing with him avoiding paying taxes. In trial, none of the
evidence against Claiborne was surprising since he’d already been on trial and served hard time.
This was the first impeachment trial in which a special committee gathered evidence instead
of the full Senate, which was controversial, to say the least. Regardless, the Senate
found him guilty and removed him from office. Next up was this dude, Alcee Hastings, a
judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Oof, the Southern
District of Florida again? Not a good look there, Southern Florida. The House impeached Hastings on
August 3, 1988, with 17 articles of impeachment against him. Congratulations, Alcee. That’s
the most articles of impeachment against one person in American history!
Anyway, it was not surprising that there were so many articles of impeachment against him,
as he’d already been in trial after being accused of trying to take bribes. That said, the jury
found him not guilty in that trial. Regardless, the House still impeached him on charges
of perjury, which means lying under oath, and conspiring to accept a bribe. The Senate
found him guilty on eight of the 17 articles of impeachment and removed him from office.
However, they didn’t prohibit him from ever serving in public office again…and…four years
later, Florida residents elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he served as a
Representative right up until his death inl 2021. The House impeached Walter Nixon, a judge
for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, on May 10, 1989, on
charges of perjury before a grand jury. Now, Nixon had also already been convicted
of perjury and even sentenced to 5 years in prison, so this was
a no-brainer for both the House and the Senate. The Senate found him
guilty and removed him from office. That said, Nixon later appealed
his impeachment and removal to the Supreme Court, who actually heard
the case in Nixon v. United States, not to be confused with United States
v. Nixon. (looks back and forth) Why… Anyway, long story short,
Walter Nixon lost his appeal. Next up was our next President. Woohoo! Bill Clinton was the second President in
American history impeached. The House impeached him on December 19, 1998 with two articles of
impeachment, one charge of perjury and another for obstruction of justice….both related to his
affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Well, he did. But it didn’t matter, the
Senate found him “not guilty” on both charges. Oh, by the way, Alcee Hastings, the former judge
and now Congressman who I mentioned earlier, voted AGAINST Clinton’s impeachment in the House. “I wanna thank…Congressman Alcee Hastings.” Next up was Samuel Kent, a judge for the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of Texas. On June 19, 2009, the House impeached him
on charges of sexual assault and obstruction of justice. However, by that time, he was already
in prison after being found guilty for lying to investigators about sexually abusing two
employees. At first, Kent tried to “retire” to collect his pension benefits, which
is why the House was like “nuh-uh buddy.” Ultimately the impeachment trial wasn’t
carried out after Kent finally resigned. The House impeached Thomas Porteous, a judge
for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, on March 11, 2010.
This was the second of only two unanimous impeachments in American history, and ALSO
the most lopsided. Of the four articles of impeachment against Porteous, all
of them were unanimous and one was passed with a vote of 423-0. The charges were
generally perjury and corruption. Basically, he hid his wealth and then later lied about it
under oath. The Senate overwhelmingly found him guilty and removed him from office and prohibited
him from serving in public office ever again. And lastly, one more person
that you may have heard of. Donald Trump is not only the only President,
but the only PERSON in American history to be impeached twice. He was also the third
President to be impeached. On September 24, 2019, the House impeached him on charges
of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to his actions pressuring
Ukraine to investigate his political rival, the now President Joe Biden. The Senate
found Trump not guilty of both charges. On January 13, 2021, the House impeached him
again, this time on charges of incitement of insurrection after many accused him of
riling up the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th trying to prevent
the certification of electoral votes. Things moved a lot quicker with that second
impeachment. By the time the trial started, Trump was out of office, but
they carried on anyway. However, again the Senate didn’t have the 2/3
majority of votes needed to find him guilty. (so we say bye bye) So there you have it, Jessica. That was
every impeachment in American history. Sorry if your name’s not Jessica. To sum it all up, a total of 20 federal officials
have been impeached in American history. 15 federal judges, 3 Presidents, 1 member of
Congress, and 1 Cabinet member. However, just 8 of the 20 impeached were actually
convicted and removed from office, and all 8 of them were judges.
Oh, and all of them men. Hmmh. Before I end this video, I
should mention two things. First, I didn’t bring up the 20 members who have
been expelled from Congress. The expulsion process is entirely separate
from the impeachment process. Second, I also didn’t get into all the
impeachment INVESTIGATIONS. In other words, I didn't bring up all the federal
officials who have ALMOST been impeached. While it’s difficult to know exactly how many
impeachment investigations there have been in American history, according to my calculations,
there have been at least 78 impeachment investigations that didn’t result in an actual
impeachment. Yep, Richard Nixon was one of them. And if you’re watching this right now as a
member of the United States federal government, you better watch out, because
your butt may be impeached next. Heck, all of ya might be. (slowly point at camera) Clone: You need to stop it with
these dramatic endings to videos. So who should be impeached next?
What should I make a video about next? How did life begin? Why are
we all here? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could
chuck wood? Let me know down below.
