n [ U , C ]
the procedure by which a public official in the US, including the President, is charged with acting illegally and may be forced to leave the job. President Richard Nixon resigned after the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he should be impeached (= charged) for the crime of Watergate . Only two presidents have been officially impeached. The first was Andrew Johnson in 1868, who remained as President because the US Senate decided by one vote that he should do so. The second was Bill Clinton in 1999, who was also judged not guilty of acting illegally.