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How Long Does Impeachment Take? When Do Proceedings Begin?

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How long does impeachment take, from beginning to end?

How long does impeachment take? When do proceedings begin? On Sept. 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she was calling for a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. However, that doesn’t mean that impeachment proceedings will begin immediately.

Before the House votes on impeachment, the House Judiciary Committee must vote to approve articles of impeachment. Then, a majority of the House of Representatives (218 votes) would need to vote in favor of impeachment. Democrats hold a 235-198 advantage in the House. The Democrat majority could bring impeachment charges against Trump without any Republicans voting in favor.

A formal impeachment inquiry can take place months before the proceedings begin. One president, Richard Nixon, resigned after impeachment articles were approved by the House Judiciary Committee and before the House voted on the impeachment charges. The Senate presides over the proceeding, with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court sitting in as judge. In order to remove the president from office, the Senate must vote with 2/3 majority in favor.

So an official charge of impeachment by the House of Representatives technically can happen in a day — but impeachment proceedings can take months, from the very beginning to the very end, when the Senate votes on whether or not to remove the president from office.

Here’s what you need to know:


Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment Proceedings Took Over 3 Months

Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached. His impeachment process, from beginning to end, was also the fastest.

Johnson was charged with 11 articles of impeachment on March 2, 1868, many of them related to his conduct following the Civil War. You can read all articles of impeachment in full here, per the United States Senate.

According to U.S. Senate Archives, the trial took several months. Johnson did not attend the trial himself, according to a summary of the proceedings on the Senate page. He didn’t attend because he was advised by a lawyer not to.

On May 16, 1868, the Senate voted on three articles related to Johnson’s impeachment charges. A 2/3 majority was needed for conviction, and was not reached. In total, 35 senators voted to convict the president and 19 senators voted to acquit.

Johnson was acquitted of impeachment charges on May 26, 1868. The end of his impeachment proceedings came to be just under three months long, in total. You can read a full chronological timeline of the impeachment proceedings here. 


Bill Clinton’s Impeachment Proceedings Took Approximately 2 Months

In November 1995, President Bill Clinton began a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. This alleged affair would continue, on and off, for 18 months.

By January 26, 1998, Clinton had been publicly accused of sexual misconduct by Lewinsky. On January 28, 1999, he said his now infamous quote a White House press conference: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

Several months later, in August 1999, Clinton finally admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky, during grand jury testimony. According to the archived transcript from CNN, he said, “Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.”

It would be almost a full year before the House of Representatives formally impeached Bill Clinton, on Dec. 19, 1998. It’s worth noting that Clinton’s approval rating hit an all-time high following news of impeachment charges, as The Guardian notes.

Clinton’s impeachment proceedings formally began on Jan. 7, 1999; the trial lasted five weeks in total. The senate voted on Clinton’s potential removal from office on Feb. 12, 1999. For the charges of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted “not guilty,” and for the charges of obstruction of justice, it was a 50-50 split. Neither vote reached the 2/3 majority necessary to remove a president from office.

So from beginning to end, Clinton’s impeachment process was almost exactly two months long. Of course, that doesn’t include the countless interviews, hearings, and statements that took place in the years leading up to his acquittal.

 



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    Total 3 comments
    • Rockledge

      This isn’t about impeachment, it is about trying to sidetrack the President from doing his job.

      This is exactly the kind of bullshit that inspired me, after having been a registered voting democrat for 45 years, to change parties.

      All of this bullshit is the perfect example of why women should be home tending kids and washing clothes, as well as the bigger example of the damage feminism has done to society.

      It is also why I defected from the democrat party, that no longer represents american citizens.

      While republicans are busy trying to run the country and we finally have a president who, bumbling Gomer that he is, is at least trying to do his job representing the citizens of this country, democrats are busy trying to be a roadblock to any advancement this country may have left. Especially that dizzy bitch pretending to be their spokesman.

      They are obviously trying to hinder President Truimps ability to do his job, the same way the republicans in congress did with President Clinton.

      The difference is, Trump is treating them like what they are, a pimple on his ass, and is forging ahead trying to get things done.

      We need a new government in this country, one that does not include republicans or democrats. Both parties are owned and operated by those who have the most money, neither represent the interests of the poor working bastard who sweats to feed his family, and neither party can be defeated because the same assholes who own them do so by owning the media that pushes the “candidates” it chooses before us, leading us to think there is nobody running for office but who they choose.

      And people in this country are too fucking stupid and mesmerized by evils such as A.M. nazi talk radio and PBS to realize the source of the mess we are in. They are conned into wasting their time blaming each other when both are the problem.

    • Canderson

      The Lewinsky alleged affair was a cover-up of the very real China -Gate!!! Technology transfer. Ana after that all industry jobs; left with a

      service economy; in order to kill the American middle class; that oppose their ruling, NWO;OWO psychopath’s dictatorship.

      • Rockledge

        This doesn’t make sense. When the cigar twat attack on President Clinton happened, the economy was booming and we were recovering from the damage done by the reagan depression in the 80s. Gas prices were under a buck a gallon, wages were high, everybody was getting called by headhunters trying to talk them into leaving their jobs for even higher paying jobs, and the cost of living was low.
        The whole “China-Gate” lie was a ruse. And in fact happened in a twisted fashion after 2000 , when cheney mortgaged the united states to china in order to support their imperialistic goals. A debt which we still owe. And an economic disaster ( the cheney depression of 2006 was a repeat of the reagan depression) that the working man has never recovered from.

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