WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee voted 27 to 11 Saturday night to recommend that Richard M. Nixon be impeached and removed from the presidency for obstruction of justice in the Watergate cover-up.
In the historic roll call vote in which all 21 Democrats were joined by 6 of the 17 Republicans, the committee declared Nixon violated his oath to uphold the Constitution by making it his course of conduct to "delay, impede and obstruct" the Watergate investigation, and to "cover up, conceal and protect those responsible."
Nixon thus became only the second U.S. president to have to face an impeachment vote by the full House of Representatives. The first, Andrew Johnson more than a century ago, was impeached by the House but cleared by one vote in a Senate trial.
The approval of the article, charging Nixon with obstruction of justice had been widely expected. The committee still must debate and vote on a second article charging him with misuse of presidential powers.
And there may be still other articles introduced before the committee hands its decision officially to the full House. There were indications a key Republican would ask Nixon be impeached for failing to yield subpoenaed evidence to the committee, and there still was some Democratic sentiment to cite Nixon for criminal activity over his income tax returns.
