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50 free Impeachment trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Four US presidents have been impeached and none convicted, one resigned before the House could vote, and a Supreme Court justice, a war secretary and a dozen judges have faced the Senate too. These impeachment trivia questions cover how the process works, every presidential case, the judges and officials who were actually removed, and famous impeachments from Brazil to South Korea. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which chamber of Congress holds the sole power of impeachment?
The House
The House brings the charges; the Senate then tries the case.
Q 02What share of senators present must vote to convict in an impeachment trial?
Two-thirds
Conviction removes the official automatically; barring them from future office takes only a separate majority vote.
Q 03The Constitution limits impeachable offences to treason, bribery and what else?
High crimes and misdemeanors
The document never defines the phrase, which is why every impeachment becomes an argument about it.
Q 04Which presidential power does the Constitution explicitly withhold in impeachment cases?
The pardon
A removed official can still be prosecuted in ordinary courts, where a pardon would apply.
Q 05What is the harshest penalty the Senate can impose in an impeachment trial?
Removal from office
Impeachment is remedial, not punitive; criminal liability is left to the regular courts.
Q 06Whose 1797 case led the Senate to rule that members of Congress cannot be impeached?
William Blount
The Tennessee senator had already been expelled; the Senate dismissed the case rather than try him.
Q 07Who was the first US official ever convicted and removed by the Senate, in 1804?
John Pickering
The New Hampshire district judge was only the second federal official ever impeached.
Q 08Who is the only Supreme Court justice ever impeached?
Samuel Chase
Jeffersonians accused him of partisan rulings in 1804; the Senate acquitted him and he stayed on the bench.
Q 09Which law was Andrew Johnson accused of violating when he fired Edwin Stanton?
The Tenure of Office Act
Congress had passed it over his veto in 1867 specifically to protect Stanton from dismissal.
Q 10By how many votes did Andrew Johnson escape conviction in 1868?
One
The 35-19 vote on May 16 fell a single vote short of the two-thirds needed.
Q 11Which Chief Justice presided over Andrew Johnson's Senate trial?
Salmon P. Chase
Chase had been Lincoln's Treasury Secretary before joining the Court.
Q 12Which Kansas senator cast the deciding vote to acquit Andrew Johnson?
Edmund G. Ross
He was later celebrated in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, though his political career never recovered.
Q 13Which Grant cabinet member was impeached in 1876 hours after resigning?
William Belknap
The Secretary of War was caught in the Fort Sill trading post kickback scandal; a Senate majority voted to convict but fell short of two-thirds.
Q 21How did the Senate vote on Clinton's obstruction of justice article?
50-50
The perjury article drew only 45 votes to convict; 67 were needed.
Q 22Who secretly recorded Monica Lewinsky describing her relationship with Clinton?
Linda Tripp
Tripp was her co-worker at the Defense Department.
Q 23What were the two articles in Donald Trump's first impeachment?
Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress
The House adopted them on December 18, 2019.
Q 14How many articles of impeachment did the Judiciary Committee approve against Nixon?
Three
Obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress were approved between July 27 and 30, 1974.
Q 15What was the August 1974 recording that sealed Nixon's fate nicknamed?
The smoking gun tape
Released on August 5, it showed him directing the Watergate cover-up; he resigned four days later.
Q 16Who introduced the first resolution calling for Nixon's impeachment, in July 1973?
Robert Drinan
Drinan, a Jesuit priest serving in Congress, filed it over the secret bombing of Cambodia.
Q 17On what date was Bill Clinton impeached by the House?
December 19, 1998
The two articles charged him with lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
Q 18Whose sexual harassment lawsuit set the Clinton impeachment in motion?
Paula Jones
Clinton's sworn denials of a relationship with Monica Lewinsky in that case became the perjury charge.
Q 19Which independent counsel's September 1998 report triggered Clinton's impeachment?
Ken Starr
Starr had replaced Fiske in the Whitewater investigation in 1994.
Q 20Which Chief Justice presided over Clinton's Senate trial?
William Rehnquist
He later described his role as doing nothing in particular and doing it very well.
Q 24How much military aid did Trump hold back from Ukraine in 2019?
$400 million
The congressionally mandated package was eventually released after the hold became public.
Q 25On what date was the Trump-Zelenskyy phone call at the heart of the first impeachment?
July 25, 2019
A whistleblower complaint about the call was filed in August and became public in mid-September.
Q 26Who became the first senator ever to vote to convict a president from his own party?
Mitt Romney
He voted guilty on the abuse of power article on February 5, 2020.
Q 27What was the single article in Trump's second impeachment?
Incitement of insurrection
The House adopted it on January 13, 2021, one week before his term ended.
Q 28How many House Republicans voted to impeach Trump in January 2021?
Ten
Liz Cheney, then the third-ranking House Republican, was among them.
Q 29How many senators voted guilty at Trump's second trial, the most ever against a president?
57
Seven Republicans joined all 50 Democrats; 67 votes were needed.
Q 30What made Trump's second Senate trial constitutionally unusual?
It began after he left office
The trial started twenty days after his term expired, so senators debated whether a former official could be tried at all.