Democratic congressman pushes articles of impeachment against Trump, but colleagues criticize it

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic lawmaker is launching a renegade effort to impeach President Donald Trump, pushing past party leaders on Wednesday with an attempt to force a procedural vote in the U.S. House that is expected to fail.

Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan announced his intention to charge ahead, saying that as an immigrant he wants to do all he can to protect America’s Constitution and its institutions. His resolution contains seven articles of impeachment against the Republican president.

“Donald J. Trump has been committing crimes since day one — bribery, corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in DOGE, violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process,” the congressman said earlier from the House floor.

It would be the historic third time Trump has faced impeachment efforts after being twice impeached during his first term as president — first in 2019 on charges related to withholding military aid to Ukraine as it confronted Russia and later on a charge of inciting insurrection over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate.

Thanedar is not the only Democrat who has signaled impeachment efforts against Trump. But his decision to go it almost alone, without backing from party leadership, comes as he faces his own political challenges at home, with several primary opponents looking to unseat him in his Detroit-area congressional district.

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Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said Democratic leadership would vote to sideline any effort to bring Thanedar’s impeachment articles to a full vote, calling impeachment “not the right approach we should be taking.”

“Right now, our focus is on health care being stripped away from the American people,” Aguilar said. “That is the most urgent and dire thing that we could be talking about this week.”

Aguilar added that Trump “is no stranger to impeachment” but said Thanedar’s proposal is “not ripe and not timely” given the negotiations over Republicans’ budget reconciliation package.

Democrats who streamed out of their weekly caucus meeting were critical of the impeachment effort. They said the focus should not be on impeachment but on Republican efforts to cut spending on important programs that Americans rely on, such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance.

“There’s no support for an impeachment resolution. There have been no hearings on compiling a record for which impeachment can be based. And this is just a procedure that’s meaningless at this point,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. ”The sponsor is out of sync with the mood and the trajectory of House Democrats.”

“The work that we need to focus on is that Republicans are stripping away access to health care, stripping away nutritional assistance for hungry kids, and giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations,” said Rick Larsen, D-Wash. “This resolution has nothing to do with that.”

Timing is also key. Thanedar’s resolution claiming Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” comes as Trump is traveling in the Middle East in his first major trip abroad of his second term, violating a norm in American politics of not criticizing the president once he leaves the U.S. waters’ edge.

But Thanedar said he was pressing ahead in part because of Trump’s trip abroad and the potential conflicts of interest as the president appears to be mixing his personal business dealings with his presidential duties and is considering accepting a lavish gift of an airplane from the Qatari government.

“My constituents want me to act,” Thanedar told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

“It’s time for us to stand up and speak. We can’t worry about, ‘Is this the right time?’ We can’t worry about, ‘Are we going to win this battle?’ It’s more about doing the right thing,” he said. “I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. So did Mr. Trump. He has violated his oath, and he’s doing unconstitutional activities. It’s time for someone to stand up and say that, and if that’s just me, then so be it.”

Thanedar is using a procedural tool to force a vote Wednesday on whether to proceed to the issue or shelve the matter.

One top Trump ally, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, criticized Thanedar and dismissed the impeachment effort.

“It’s DOA,” she posted on social media.

Impeachment of a president or other U.S. officials, once rare, has become an increasingly common in Congress.

Republicans in the House opened an impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but stopped short of action. The Republicans in Congress did, however, impeach Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Senate dismissed two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, ending his trial.

Thanedar, who’s from India, has said he came to the United States without many resources. He said he loves the U.S. and wants to defend its Constitution and institutions.

When he took over the Detroit congressional district, it was the first time in decades the city was left without a Black lawmaker in Congress.

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Staff writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.