4 things to know about impeachment
When has it been used?
When it comes to federal officials in general, the House has initiated impeachment proceedings over 60 times since the 18th century, with only about a third of those resulting in a full impeachment.
Only eight individuals, all of whom were federal judges, have been successfully removed from office through the impeachment process, according to the House’s Office of the Historian.
As of now, only two presidents have been officially impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, for dismissing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Bill Clinton in 1998 for charges of perjury regarding his extramarital affair with a White House intern, noted History on the Net.
While President Richard Nixon faced the possibility of impeachment in 1974 over his involvement in the Watergate scandal, he opted to resign instead.
