This is exactly the type of thing that Impeachment was created for, despite the fact that it has mostly been used as a political tool OTL.
Mostly? When has there ever been an Impeachment that was not a non-political tool? BTW? Impeachment IS constitutionally a political action. That's why its not done by SCOTUS. If an impeachable offense is executed by a
very popular POTUS (Nixon was popular, not respected, and his crimes were politically targeted at his opposition with an opposition party in power in Congress), he's untouchable, as no US House will launch one short of some gross Manchurian Candidate or "blue collar" crime being committed. That's why we never saw anything happen with the Bay of Pigs or Iran-Contra (directed at Reagan).
Andrew Jackson was Impeached over his destroying the National Bank, said Impeachment being so unpopular that it was the only one ever reversed and expunged by the next Congress. Which is why in history you only hear about the next two.
Andrew Johnson was Impeached over his "violation" of the Cabinet Succession Act by firing SecWar Edwin Stanton. His being Impeached was more a matter of the North having the sense that a more pro-Confederate than was previously suspected politician was in the White House. Which is why they pushed it so hard despite that he was only several months from leaving office. He survived the Senate Trial by the sole vote of a Senator on his death bed brought in on a stretcher.
Everyone understood that the Cabinet Succession Act was grossly unconstitutional, and was only passed to clip Johnson's wings. Proof positive being that it was never enforced afterward Johnson left office (1) until the Supreme Court finally struck it down in 1927.
1) Sometimes POTUSes would inform a Cabinet officer that "Your resignation [size=-4]
(unoffered
) is accepted".
IIRC this happened to Rutherford B. Hayes' first SecNav when it was discovered that he had pocketed most of the US Navy's budget for "Naval Reconstruction".
3) Clinton's Impeachment being all about the country not having the decency to elect a Good Republican, Clinton's lack of moral decency giving his enemies what they couldn't get with $70,000,000, and the Checks and Balances provided by our Founding Fathers through the means of the voters getting their say in the next election. Which is exactly what they got with the GOP getting royally spanked in 1998.
Yes, on paper 1998 was an election that was mostly a wash. But in a Six Year Election the party out of power is supposed to rout the party in the White House, as the Dems did to Bush in 2006 and the GOP did to Obama in 2014.