Ten Republicans voted to impeach Trump. How many crossed aisle in past impeachments?
President Donald Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday made history in a number of ways — including in how many lawmakers crossed party lines to vote in favor.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach the president for inciting an insurrection following last week’s violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, which some lawmakers from both parties have, at least in part, pinned on the president’s rhetoric surrounding the election.
Trump — who has continuously touted false and unfounded claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen from him — spoke to his supporters at a rally before the attack, urging them to march on Capitol Hill.
Rioters then did and breached the Capitol as Congress was certifying the Electoral College vote. They laid siege on the building, broke into the the U.S. Senate chamber and reached the doors of the U.S. House of Representatives chamber, delaying the certification for hours as lawmakers were evacuated.
Wednesday’s vote made Trump the first president in U.S. history to be impeached more than once. In December 2019, he became just the third president to be impeached.
The vote also had the most support from the president’s own party than in any other president’s impeachment, with 10 Republicans voting in favor. Here’s a look at partisan breakdowns in other impeachment votes.
Andrew Johnson (1868)
In March 1868, Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached.
The impeachment of Johnson, a Democrat before the parties flipped, was the culmination of his clashes with the Republican-controlled Congress over Reconstruction after the Civil War, including his vetoes of legislation to protect the rights of people recently freed from slavery.
The House eventually adopted 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson, with no Democrats in support.
The main charge was his violation of Tenure of Office Act of 1867, The New York Times reports. The act was designed to prevent Johnson from firing pro-Reconstruction Lincoln appointees.
The 17th president was later acquitted by the Senate, which was only one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict. Johnson served the remainder of his term.
Bill Clinton (1998)
Five members of the Democratic president’s party voted in favor of each of the two articles of impeachment the House passed against him that December, The New York Times reports.
The House impeached Clinton on charges of lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstruction of justice related to his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton denied the affair, famously saying “I did not have sex with that woman,” before later admitting to it.
In February 1999, the Senate acquitted Clinton of both charges.
Donald Trump (2019)
No Republicans voted in favor when the House impeached Trump for obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
The president’s first impeachment was related to accusations of his leveraging of aid to pressure Ukrainian officials into investigating now President-elect Joe Biden.
He had called on the officials to look into whether Biden sought to oust the country’s top prosecutor in order protect his son Hunter Biden, who was then on the board of a Ukrainian gas company facing a corruption investigation. Administration officials testified that Trump withheld $391 million in military assistance to the country.
Multiple fact checking organizations found the investigation of the gas company was null at the time Biden called for the removal, McClatchy previously reported.
In February 2020, Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Ten Republicans voted to impeach Trump. How many crossed aisle in past impeachments?."
