Al Green’s Latest Trump Impeachment Effort Rejected By Most House Democrats

House Republicans and a majority of House Democrats have shot down the latest push to impeach President Donald Trump. The vote has created division within the Democratic Party between those who criticized the resolution and those who called out their colleagues for not standing up to Trump.

Impeachment for Trump ‘usurping Congress’s power to declare war’ fails

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a proposal by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, to open an impeachment inquiry against Trump over his decision to bomb several nuclear sites in Iran, which Green’s proposal said “disregarded the doctrine of separation of powers by usurping Congress’s power to declare war.” Although Green had dozens of Democrats voting for his proposal, most of the House Democrats, 128 to be precise, sided with every Republican present to oppose the impeachment inquiry, which therefore failed with a vote of 344-79.

Democratic divide over impeachment strategy

Opposing Green were House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. A number of Democrats expressed their frustration with Green’s proposal.

“What a message to China and Russia — after we take military action, we try to impeach the president,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said.

Several other House Democrats spoke anonymously about the impeachment measure, calling it “unhelpful,” “unserious” and “premature.”  Green characterized the vote as a matter of “conscience” and said he did not have “one scintilla of regret” about proposing impeachment over the Iran strike. Joining Green, meanwhile, were many progressives and representatives from relatively safe districts. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who supported Green’s measure, had called for Trump’s impeachment shortly after the Iran strikes, referring to the mission as “a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers” and “absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Latest in a long line of efforts to impeach or oppose Trump

Trump was impeached twice during his first term, once for attempting to politically manipulate aid to Ukraine and again for the January 6 insurrection; both times, the Senate failed to convict him. In addition to these two instances, Green proposed impeaching Trump for other offenses, such as his plan earlier this year for the U.S. to annex Gaza, potentially. Green also heckled the president during his address to a joint session of Congress in March; Republicans and 10 House Democrats voted to pass a measure censuring Green over his interruptions of Trump’s speech.

Despite these setbacks and even opposition within his party, Green does not appear to be backing away from his opposition to Trump. Even though this latest impeachment bid failed to materialize, Green and others will undoubtedly continue to push back against him. Given the president’s track record, it’s likely that this is not the last time another impeachment proposal comes up before Congress.