Trump Faces Long-Shot Impeachment Threat from Democrat—Full List of Efforts - Newsweek
Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas is forcing a House vote this week in what would be the ninth attempt to impeach President Donald Trump since 2017. Green has led six of those efforts.
The Texas Democrat, who lost his primary in May and will not return to Congress next year, introduced H.Res. 1486 on August 24. The resolution accuses Trump of abusing his presidential powers by allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to operate without accountability. It cites the deaths of four people this year: Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in Minneapolis in January; Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed in Houston in July; and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, who was killed in Maine.
On Monday, Green notified colleagues that he would bring the resolution to the floor as a question of the privileges of the House under Rule IX. The procedure requires the House to act within two legislative days, setting up a vote before the chamber adjourns Thursday.
"Please accept this letter as a professional courtesy to inform you that I will call for a recorded vote on the floor of the House of Representatives on H.Res. 1486," Green wrote to Trump. He accused federal immigration officers of unjustified killings and said Trump was "condoning, supporting, and covering up" them.
As of Monday, no other member of Congress had signed on as a co-sponsor, according to congressional records.
House Democratic leaders have not endorsed the resolution. Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Minority Leader, has repeatedly declined to say whether Democrats would pursue impeachment, saying the party's focus is on the cost of living.
Asked on ABC's This Week on Sunday whether Democrats would move on impeachment if they retake the House in November, Jeffries said, "We haven't ruled anything in, and we haven't ruled anything out."
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis criticized the resolution. "This type of garbage is contributing to our law enforcement officers facing a more than 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them," Bis told Newsweek in response. She said ICE and CBP officers "put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists."
Newsweek reached out to Green's and Jeffries' offices for comment on Monday.
Trump has been impeached twice, the only president in American history to face the process more than once. The Senate acquitted him both times.
Yet, he said Democrats could pursue impeachment again if Republicans lose the midterms. "You've got to win the midterms," Trump told House Republicans at a retreat earlier this year. "I'll get impeached."
Impeachment in the House requires a simple majority. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, but recent polling averages show Democrats with an advantage on the generic congressional ballot. Democrats would need to gain a small number of seats to take control of the House on November 3, when all 435 seats are up for election.
The Senate is a tougher path. Democrats need to flip four Republican-held seats to take control, according to Reuters. They would also need to hold every seat they currently have.
But even if Democrats control the Senate, removing Trump from office would require a two-thirds vote of senators present after an impeachment trial. The Senate acquitted Trump in both of his previous trials, and a Democratic majority alone would not provide the votes needed to convict.
Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Newsweek in June he had no doubt Democrats would move to impeach Trump if they win the House, and said a Democratic Senate would "uphold the conviction."
Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, who led the 2021 effort, said impeachment alone would not resolve Democrats' concerns about Trump. "We've already impeached him twice," Raskin told NBC News in July. "So obviously that's not a complete solution, given that he is able to beat the two-thirds constitutional spread."
In comments the White House has used in response to multiple polling inquiries, spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek: “The ultimate poll was November 5th 2024 when nearly 80 million Americans overwhelmingly elected President Trump to deliver on his popular and commonsense agenda.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas
