Thread by @jedshug

So maybe you're wondering if a cabinet member has ever been impeached... Here's a short history of impeaching department heads:
William Belknap, Secretary of War, impeached for kickback corruption, majority of Senate but not 2/3 voted to convict in 1876. He resigned anyway... 1/

2/ Attorney General Harry Daugherty was threatened with impeachment in 1922 for his DOJ's bootlegger kickback scandal. He was not impeached, but the investigation led to his resignation. I discussed this in a @washingtonpost op-ed on Whitaker this year: washingtonpost.com/opinions/think…

3/ Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon - the famously wealthy tycoon - has supported the disastrous policies of trickle-down and fiscal austerity, and was blamed for meddling w/ the Fed to keep rates too low (!!!), and contributing to and exacerbating the Great Depression in 1929.

4/ In 1932, Texas Rep. Wright Patman began impeachment process against Mellon (alleging violations of conflicts of interest laws). To avoid impeachment, President Hoover removed Mellon from Treasury to ambassador to the UK.
And yes, it's the same Wright Patman from Watergate...

5/ Yes, it's this same Wright Patman, 40 years later. From @leoncrawl's outstanding podcast "Slow Burn," Episode 2, "The Defeat of Wright Patman":
How Nixon blocked the first congressional investigation into Watergate. slate.com/articles/podca… via @slate

6/ GW Bush's AG Alberto Gonzales faced impeachment for his role in firing of US attorneys for not advancing partisan GOP agenda, for torture ("enhanced interrogation") and warrantless surveillance (see below must-read on Comey, Mueller, @jacklgoldsmith)... washingtonian.com/2013/05/30/for…

7/ In 2007, @JayInslee called for impeachment hearings by House Judiciary against Gonzales. There were no hearings, but Gonzales resigned about two months later.
(Gonzales was one of many examples of the Crony AG.)
fordhamlawreview.org/wp-content/upl…