Politics
Obscure Democrat’s Trump Impeachment Effort Fails In Humiliating Fashion
Senior House Democrats said Wednesday that they will join Republicans in blocking a House-wide vote on impeaching President Donald Trump.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) filed multiple articles of impeachment against the president over the deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García, a suspected MS-13 gang member with ties to a convicted human trafficker.
Thanedar’s impeachment push appears to be ending in humiliating fashion, however, as House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) described the effort as poorly-planned and “not the right approach.”
“I’ll join members of the leadership team in voting to table that motion,” Aguilar said Wednesday, adding that the lone lawmaker’s motion has become a “distraction” for the Democratic Party as they attempt to combat Republican spending proposals.
Despite weeks of pushback from members of his own party, Thanedar stood on the House floor Tuesday and invoked a maneuver that effectively forces House leaders to take up a piece of legislation within two House working days.
The Michigan Democrat acknowledged his colleagues’ concerns over the measure on Tuesday, though he insisted that he would still push for a floor vote. “Even some Democrats call me a lunatic, just like the president has called me lunatic,” Thanedar said Wednesday.
“But they have never said, nobody has said to me, ‘Mr. Thanedar, the seven articles of impeachment that you presented to the U.S. Congress, they’re a piece of s—. They’re not good. You missed it, missed the point. They are not legally right.’ They didn’t do that. No one says that.”
House Republican leadership has scheduled a Wednesday evening vote to table the measure. If successful, the procedural motion would block a House-wide vote on the matter.
Just hours after Thanedar delivered his final arguments, Aguilar said it was not the right time to pursue an impeachment effort.
“This is such an impactful moment, and our colleagues are locking themselves in a room for 24 hours to protect and defend healthcare. We shouldn’t be talking about this proposal that is not right, not timely,” the senior House Democrat said.
“This president is no stranger to impeachments, he’s been impeached twice. Impeachment is a tool that can be used, but it takes weeks, months to do. Right now the issue of the day is, will hill Republicans stand up and support healthcare in this country?”
It is unclear whether Thanedar’s now doomed impeachment push will come with any political consequences, as numerous House Democrats have expressed anger with his actions both publicly and anonymously.
Four of the Michigan congressman’s Democrat colleagues were initially listed as co-sponsors for the legislation, though all four have since withdrawn, stating that they were led to believe the move was endorsed by party leadership. One unnamed source told Axios that Thanedar listed one of the co-sponsors after a “vague one-on-one conversation” without notifying their staff
The timing of Thanedar’s announcement has also raised eyebrows, as it came just hours after he drew a primary challenger after consistent efforts from local Democrats to oust him.
When speaking on the condition of anonymity, a number of House Democrats were less than cordial in sharing their thoughts on the matter.
“This is a self-own that … fundamentally undermines our capacity to continue to have a conversation with people we need to win over,” one anonymous Democrat source told Axios. “Why would we do something that has failed twice as a strategy and yielded no electoral win? The guy got impeached twice, how did it work out for us?” another added.
A separate House Democrat described Thanedar’s move as “self-serving” and “not a genuine effort to reign in the president.” Others speculated that the announcement is directly related to the looming primary challenge.
