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Democrats Are Catching Impeachment Fever

WASHINGTON – Democrats’ impeachment season has begun.

The House of Representatives on Thursday blocked a resolution to impeach President Donald Trump by a bipartisan vote of 237 to 140, with 23 Democrats voting to table and 47 voting “present.”

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The resolution’s failure is unsurprising, considering Republicans still control the House and forced the vote. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who introduced the resolution, has already had one attempt at impeachment rejected this year and has been introducing impeachment resolutions against the president ever since Trump first took office in 2017.

But with campaign season approaching, Trump’s popularity waning and Democratic primary voters looking for candidates with backbone, Green’s lonely quest to use the House impeachment power is gaining some new supporters eager to make political gains, even as it prompts eye-rolls from other party members.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) filed impeachment articles against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Wednesday and Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) this week introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his murderous boat strikes and reckless handling of classified information.

Both Stevens and Thanedar are eager to prove themselves to Democratic voters. Stevens is the moderate candidate in a three-way primary for Senate, and Thanedar — one of the House’s most colorful and controversial members — is trying to hold off a primary challenge from progressive Donovan McKinney.

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Stevens said attributing her move to impeach Kennedy to a desire to stand out from the primary crowd was a cynical reading of the situation. Her resolution says RFK, Jr. violated his oath of office by cutting cancer research funds, firing scientists and spreading garbage about vaccines.

“I’ve seen enough,” Stevens told HuffPost. “Measles is on the rise, infant deaths are occurring and conspiracy theories are being spread.”

Stevens differentiated her resolution from Green’s by pointing out she’s not forcing a House vote the way he did. She said she’s heard from Republican doctors who don’t like Kennedy and noted Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted against his confirmation as HHS secretary. Even though she’s already written her resolution, she suggested it was only part of an ongoing process.

“It’s no doubt a bold action, but I’m hoping for a conversation,” Stevens said.

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The way impeachment works: If the House votes to impeach, the Senate holds a trial, with a supermajority of 67 senators required to convict. Trump’s first term, which ended with the Senate refusing to convict him for inciting a mob riot attack on the Capitol, showed how hard it is for impeachment actually to work: A bipartisan majority of 57 senators voted to convict and it wasn’t nearly enough.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries put out a statement Thursday describing impeachment as “a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust,” saying the effort requires comprehensive investigatory work, hearings and efforts to marshal public support.

“None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda,” Jeffries and his leadership team said in the statement, which concluded by saying they would vote “present” on Green’s resolution. (House Democratic leadership, then led by Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, was similarly suspicious of the first effort to impeach Trump.)

Progressives were more willing to impeach.

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“There’s no shortage of crimes that this administration has been engaged in, and so I’m fine with it,” Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told HuffPost.

At the same time, pro-impeachment lawmakers didn’t seem to mind their colleagues not going along.

“The criminal actions of the president are very clear. What’s also clear is that the House Republican majority is not going to have a legitimate process for investigating the president that they worship instead of hold him accountable,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told HuffPost.

If Democrats retake the House in next year’s midterm elections, however, impeachment could be on the table. Democrats would likely write articles of impeachment through a committee process rather than rushing to the floor for a vote, however.

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Green’s impeachment resolution charges Trump with having “unconstitutionally abused his official position by threatening Democratic lawmakers in Congress with execution.” Trump repeatedly accused six Democratic members of Congress of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR” this month, even suggesting on social media they should be executed, in response to their video reminding members of the military that they can disobey unlawful orders.

Green himself was censured earlier this year for theatrically interrupting Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress in February. He stood and pointed his cane at the president, only to be escorted out of the chamber.

On Thursday, Green said he was happy to have gotten 140 votes for his resolution and he was confident he’d done the right thing.

“I did it because it was the righteous thing to do. I didn’t count votes before. I didn’t ask anybody to vote one way or another,” Green told HuffPost. “I always tell people, vote your conscience on these kinds of questions. These are questions of conscience.”