0:00:00.000,0:00:04.038 When America’s founding fathers were debating[br]how to set up a brand-new government, 0:00:04.038,0:00:09.039 they ran into a problem:[br]What should happen if a president, in Benjamin 0:00:09.048,0:00:13.928 Franklin’s words, has “rendered himself[br]obnoxious?” 0:00:14.094,0:00:16.904 Most countries didn’t have elected leaders. 0:00:16.904,0:00:18.197 Or ways to get rid of them, if necessary. 0:00:18.197,0:00:23.091 So Franklin and the framers turned to a provision[br]of British common law known as impeachment: 0:00:23.091,0:00:25.098 Trial, conviction, punishment. 0:00:25.098,0:00:31.067 In Great Britain, impeachment could be brought[br]against anybody, any citizen. 0:00:31.949,0:00:36.660 And it also could result in any punishment,[br]including death. 0:00:36.066,0:00:41.128 Michael Gerhardt is a constitutional law professor[br]who literally wrote the book in impeachment. 0:00:42.028,0:00:46.967 So they put impeachment in the constitution[br]and then set up a whole series of unique american 0:00:47.219,0:00:48.380 features in it. 0:00:48.038,0:00:52.085 The constitution lays out three offenses for[br]which any federal official, including the 0:00:52.085,0:00:53.123 President, can be impeached. 0:00:54.023,0:00:58.034 The first two, treason and bribery, are pretty[br]straightforward. 0:00:58.034,0:01:00.092 Treason means helping enemies of the United[br]States. 0:01:00.092,0:01:03.157 Bribery, taking money or gifts in exchange[br]for a political favor. 0:01:04.057,0:01:10.100 And the last phrase, other high crimes and[br]misdemeanors, is not defined in the constitution 0:01:11.000,0:01:17.007 But these were thought to be serious offenses[br]against the Republic, and serious breaches 0:01:17.007,0:01:18.126 of trust. 0:01:18.189,0:01:22.271 For three U.S. presidents, Andrew Johnson,[br]Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, the question 0:01:23.009,0:01:27.680 of whether to impeach and remove them from[br]office centered around whether their behavior 0:01:27.068,0:01:32.467 fit in this third category of high crimes[br]and misdemeanors. 0:01:33.079,0:01:37.020 The process of Impeachment has to start in[br]the House of Representatives. 0:01:37.002,0:01:40.037 Any member can introduce an impeachment resolution. 0:01:40.037,0:01:55.136 A resolution, that President George W. Bush[br]be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors 0:01:55.469,0:01:57.566 But plenty, like this one, go nowhere. 0:01:58.439,0:02:02.410 That’s because impeachment charges, have[br]to be approved by a majority of the House 0:02:02.041,0:02:03.780 Judiciary Committee. 0:02:04.149,0:02:08.660 Next, the full House of Representatives votes[br]on whether to impeach. 0:02:08.066,0:02:11.154 If a simple majority votes yes, the President[br]is officially impeached. 0:02:12.054,0:02:16.085 But that doesn’t mean they lose the presidency. 0:02:16.085,0:02:18.178 That decision happens in a Senate trial. 0:02:19.078,0:02:20.175 The Senators act as the jury. 0:02:21.075,0:02:25.158 They hear evidence from both sides[br]And if 67% of those Senators vote to to convict, 0:02:26.058,0:02:28.112 the President is removed from office. 0:02:29.012,0:02:31.059 This has never actually happened. 0:02:31.059,0:02:36.062 In 1863, a House majority voted to impeach[br]Andrew Johnson for firing is Secretary of 0:02:36.089,0:02:37.089 War. 0:02:37.089,0:02:40.178 This was after months of conflict after Reconstruction[br]following the civil war. 0:02:41.078,0:02:46.115 The only other president impeached by the[br]House was Bill Clinton in 1998. 0:02:47.015,0:02:53.023 But in both cases, not enough Senators voted[br]to actually remove them from office. 0:02:53.023,0:02:58.072 Johnson was only one vote short, but in Clinton’s[br]case, it wasn’t even close 0:02:58.072,0:03:04.098 The Respondent, William Jefferson Clinton,[br]is not guilty as charged in the Senate article 0:03:04.098,0:03:05.098 of impeachment. 0:03:05.098,0:03:09.109 That’s because votes in Clinton’s impeachment[br]in the House and trial in the Senate were 0:03:10.009,0:03:12.084 split almost completely by party. 0:03:12.084,0:03:17.126 part of the disagreement within the Senate[br]had to do with the context in which Clinton's 0:03:18.026,0:03:21.051 actions had taken place. 0:03:21.051,0:03:25.069 The whole thing started when Clinton was sued[br]for sexual harassment by a woman named Paula 0:03:25.069,0:03:28.132 Jones, who worked for him when he was Governor[br]of Arkansas. 0:03:29.032,0:03:33.095 In a deposition for that case, Jones’ lawyers[br]asked Clinton if he’d had a sexual relationship 0:03:33.095,0:03:37.103 with a different employee-- a White House[br]intern named Monica Lewinsky. 0:03:38.003,0:03:39.003 Clinton said he hadn’t. 0:03:39.003,0:03:43.082 I did not have sexual relations with that[br]woman. 0:03:43.082,0:03:44.087 Ms. Lewinsky. 0:03:44.087,0:03:45.096 But that wasn’t true. 0:03:46.077,0:03:51.124 I had intimate contact with her that was inappropriate. 0:03:52.024,0:03:54.030 The house will be in order. 0:03:54.084,0:04:02.115 Republicans in the house argued Clinton should[br]be impeached for lying under oath. 0:04:03.015,0:04:08.033 What the defenders want to do is lower the[br]standards by which we judge this president, 0:04:08.033,0:04:12.039 and lower the standards for our society by[br]doing so. 0:04:12.039,0:04:16.055 Democrats disagreed that the offense was serious[br]enough to be called a “high crime.” 0:04:16.055,0:04:19.072 At one point, they walked out of the chamber[br]in protest. 0:04:19.072,0:04:26.081 There is one small segment on the far-right,[br]who have lost all objectivity, and are determined 0:04:27.053,0:04:29.138 to impeach the President at all costs. 0:04:30.038,0:04:35.135 House Resolution 6, 11, resolved, that William[br]Jefferson Clinton, President of the United 0:04:36.035,0:04:39.131 States, is impeached, for high crimes and[br]misdemeanors. 0:04:40.031,0:04:43.070 But Clinton’s popularity didn’t really[br]suffer. 0:04:43.007,0:04:48.035 There was not a sense the American people[br]are demanding that he be tossed out of office. 0:04:48.098,0:04:51.157 Not a single Democratic Senator voted to remove[br]Clinton from office. 0:04:52.057,0:04:55.073 Typically, you need to have members of more[br]than one party 0:04:55.073,0:04:59.168 That’s one of the major differences between[br]Clinton’s case and President Richard Nixon’s. 0:05:00.068,0:05:05.153 Over the course of several months in 1973,[br]members of Congress, and the American people, 0:05:06.053,0:05:10.075 learned about Nixon’s possible involvement[br]in a break-in at the offices of the Democratic 0:05:10.075,0:05:11.100 National Committee. 0:05:12.000,0:05:16.012 By the time the charges had been shown to[br]have some evidence supporting them, the public 0:05:16.012,0:05:27.103 began to kind of render a judgement against[br]Nixon, which was, his popularity plummeted. 0:05:28.003,0:05:37.061 That evidence came out because Republicans,[br]members of Nixon’s own party, in both the 0:05:37.061,0:05:47.103 House and Senate, called for investigations[br]into the President’s behavior. 0:05:48.003,0:05:52.064 In the House Judiciary Committee, Republicans[br]joined with Democrats to approve Articles 0:05:52.064,0:06:01.071 of Impeachment against Nixon. 0:06:02.034,0:06:13.119 But Nixon resigned before the full house could[br]vote on impeachment because Republican leaders 0:06:14.019,0:06:17.050 had told him there was no way he’d survive. 0:06:17.005,0:06:22.014 Which explains why no president has ever been[br]removed from office by impeachment. 0:06:23.004,0:06:27.012 For that to happen, the president doesn’t[br]just have to commit some high crime or misdemeanor. 0:06:28.002,0:06:30.074 He has to lose his own party. 0:06:30.092,0:06:32.186 In which case, history suggests he’ll see[br]himself out.