THE 3 PRESIDENTS WHO FACED CHARGES

ANDREW JOHNSON, 1868

DEMOCRAT Andrew Johnson, who became president after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, pushed for reconstruction in the wake of the American Civil War, including reintegrating the southern states into the Union.

But Congress vetoed all his legislation including racist laws the ex-Tennessee military governor backed after they were voted for by representatives from the South.

In the impasse, Mr Johnson fired his secretary of war, prompting Congress to launch impeachment proceedings – the first in US history.

On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted 11 articles of impeachment.

But after a trial lasting several weeks, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for a conviction. Mr Johnson stayed in office but lost his party’s bid to run for the next elections.

RICHARD NIXON, 1974

DURING Republican president Richard Nixon’s 19 2 campaign for re-election, burglars were sent to bug the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington.

The raid was bungled and the offenders were caught, in a scandal revealed by investigative reporters at The Washington Post newspaper.

Nixon tried to hide his involvement but on July 24, 19 4 the US Supreme Court ordered him to hand over clandestine recordings of his private Oval Office conversations that provided proof he and his top advisers engaged in an elaborate cover-up of the crime.

On July 30, the House Judiciary Committee approved three impeachment articles.

Before they could be considered by the House of Representatives, which would almost certainly have voted against him, Nixon resigned.

BILL CLINTON, 1998

In 1998, Democrat Bill Clinton denied under oath ‘having sexual relations with that woman Monica Lewinsky’ – a White House intern aged 22.

Miss Lewinsky at first also denied any improper relationship but later admitted to it, as Mr Clinton eventually did. It led to calls for his impeachment for lying under oath.

The House judiciary committee – voting mostly along party lines – approved four articles of impeachment.

On December 19, Congress voted for impeachment on two of them: perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice.

But after the subsequent trial in the Senate, the 45 Democratic senators stayed united against the 55 Republicans to block a two-thirds vote for Clinton’s conviction. He then remained in office until the end of his term in January 2001.