Why Donald Trump won't be impeached. Look to Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton

When I speak to an audience of older readers, I like to ask how many remember what they were doing the day President Richard Nixon was impeached.

It's a trick question, of course.

Nixon was never impeached, much less convicted by the U.S. Senate — although many who were around to witness the implosion of his presidency remember differently.

A congressional committee did report three articles of impeachment — the equivalent of counts in a criminal indictment — to the U.S.House of Representatives late in July 1974.

But before the full House could act, a delegation of Republican lawmakers visited the White House to warn Nixon that both his impeachment by the House and his conviction by the Senate were foregone conclusions.