Contrasting fates How two others fared

Andrew Johnson

Following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, his vice-president succeeded to the presidency.

Johnson, a southern Democrat, took a softer view on the post-civil War reconstruction than Lincoln’s cabinet members who wanted to do more to help former slaves and punish confederate areas.

Amid this frustration, Republicans introduced a law making it impossible to fire a cabinet member without their approval.

Johnson ignored the law to sack his secretary of war, prompting the House to impeach him in 1868. However, he avoided removal from office after a trial in the Senate, when seven moderate Republicans split from the party to vote against it.

The acquittal helped preserve the power of the presidency, but it ended Johnson’s political ambitions. He attempted to run for a second term, but failed to win his party’s presidential nomination.

Bill Clinton

He was impeached on Dec 19 1998, almost 21 years to the day that Donald Trump faced the same fate. Mr Clinton’s impeachment passed with five House Republicans voting against and five Democrats voting in favour of the move.

The charges against Mr Clinton centred around his lying under oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

However, impeachment actually boosted Mr Clinton’s political standing, and the Democrats fared better than expected in midterm elections.

Mr Clinton was narrowly acquitted during a 1999 trial in the Senate and his public approval ratings actually peaked after the impeachment process.