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Impeachment is a way to removegovernment officers from office in some countries.
Impeachment in theUnited States is how theHouse of Representatives brings charges against either thePresident, theVice President, or anyfederal officer forwrongdoings they are said to have committed. Most impeachments in the United States have been ofjudges.
Impeachment is like anindictment, which is something that theprosecutor needs to get before atrial. Someone is impeached when alegislature votes to do that. Later, there is another vote on whether or not toconvict someone, which means they are madeguilty. The second vote may be by the same people who did the impeachment, or someone else as in abicameral legislature. Several different types of office holders may be impeached, but cases against thePresident or leader of a country usually attract the most attention.
The impeachment trial ofWarren Hastings, Governor-General of the Calcutta Presidency, lasted for years and ended in his acquittal. Two well-knownheads of state who were impeached and removed from office wereBrazilian presidentDilma Rousseff in 2016 andSouth Korean presidentPark Geun-hye in 2017. ThreePresident of the United States were impeached:Andrew Johnson,Bill Clinton andDonald Trump. Trump was officially impeached twice by the house of representatives. None of these was removed from office by impeachment. PresidentRichard Nixonresigned from the office of President before the House could impeach him, resulting in him being the only U.S. president to resign.
