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U.S. President Richard M. Nixon is seen outside the White House in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Oct. 11, 1973 (AP Photo)

U.S. President Richard M. Nixon is seen outside the White House in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Oct. 11, 1973 (AP Photo)

U.S. President Richard M. Nixon is seen exterior the White House in Washington, D.C., Th, Oct. 11, 1973 (AP Photograph)

No, Nixon was never officially impeached. He resigned first

Former President Richard Nixon is making a comeback, this time as congressional Democrats mull impeachment proceedings confronting President Donald Trump.

Simply this week, the Business firm Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report from Nixon'south quondam White House counsel, John Dean, a key witness in the Watergate scandal.

What'south oft forgotten about Nixon is that, while he'southward the only U.S. president to resign from office, he was never actually impeached.

The latest public effigy to bobble this fact was Jimmy Kimmel, host of ABC's tardily-night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Kimmel'south comment came during the June 6 episode of his show, as office of an extended joke breaking down Trump'due south contempo feud with extra Bette Midler. The comedian listed several far-fetched connections between Trump, Nixon and Midler'due south 1993 film "Hocus Pocus" equally show for why Trump lashed out at her on Twitter.

"Richard Nixon was the last president to be impeached by a 'witch hunt,'" he said at i signal.

Nosotros found Kimmel'south joke funny, but also worth fact-checking. Our finding: Kimmel was wrong in a few ways, and the history is worth a review.

For starters, Nixon was non the latest president to confront the prospect of impeachment. That was Pecker Clinton. The House of Representatives impeached him in 1998, but the Senate ultimately acquitted him.

More importantly, Nixon was never impeached. Impeachment requires a formal vote, and the Firm has only voted to impeach two presidents — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Clinton more than 100 years afterwards. (Johnson was likewise acquitted.) Nixon'due south story was different.

In Nixon's case, the House Judiciary Committee approved 3 manufactures of impeachment in July 1974 and reported them to the full House for consideration. But after the Supreme Court forced him to release incriminating White House tapes, Nixon resigned in August 1974, leaving office before the Business firm could vote on impeachment.

Still, it was widely believed at the time that Nixon would have been ousted if he'd stayed around. "Nixon would definitely take been impeached by the Business firm and convicted past the Senate if he had not resigned first," said Ken Hughes, a historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and an expert on Nixon's clandestine recordings.

Timothy Naftali, professor of public service at New York University and the former managing director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, added that impeachment "by an overwhelming bipartisan majority was beyond question" and "as close to inevitable as can exist."

A spokesperson for "Jimmy Kimmel Alive" did not answer to requests for comment.

Our ruling

Kimmel said, "Richard Nixon was the last president to be impeached by a 'witch hunt.'"

Nixon probably would have been kicked out if he hadn't resigned showtime, and the impeachment process against him had begun.

Just merely two presidents take actually been impeached, and Nixon was not one of them. He resigned before the House had the chance to vote on the articles of impeachment.

We rate this argument False.

Jimmy Kimmel Live on YouTube, June 6, 2019

The Washington Post, "History Lesson: Richard Nixon was not impeached," May 29, 2017

The Washington Post, "Nixon Resigns," Baronial 9, 1974

Watergate.info, "Articles of Impeachment," accessed June 12, 2019

Email interview with Brenda Wineapple, author of "The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a New Nation," June 12, 2019

E-mail interview with Ken Hughes, inquiry specialist at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and an expert on clandestine presidential recordings, Watergate and Nixon, June 12, 2019

Email interview with Timothy Naftali, professor of public service at New York University and the former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, June 13, 2019

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