"Look for other ways to get attention": House Dems face new Trump impeachment blowup

House Democrats face 11th-hour Trump impeachment blowup

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2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

House Democrats face 11th-hour Trump impeachment blowup

* Andrew Solender

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!President Donald Trump sits at a desk in a navy suit and orange tie, hands clasped as he speaks, with officials and flags visible behind him.

*President Trump in the Oval Office on Sept. 4. Photo: Annabelle Gordon/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images*

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is facing swift and intense anger from his Democratic colleagues after announcing plans to force a vote to impeach President Trump this week.

**Why it matters:** This is a messaging headache the party did not need going into the House's last week in session before midterm Election Day, frustrated House Democrats told Axios.

* "It's fucked up," said a senior House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer candid criticism of a fellow Democrat.
* Fumed a second lawmaker: "There's a reason why Al Green isn't coming back. This is exactly what people don't want. People want us focusing on affordability and AI, not on starting this futile impeachment game."
* Green said in an interview: "People are dying, and they are talking about strategy."

**Driving the news:** Green said in a letter to Trump, which he cc'd to fellow members of Congress, that he will exercise his privilege to force a House impeachment vote "during the legislative business of September 14-17."

* He said the vote will be based on the killings of Renée Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by federal immigration officers.
* "You are condoning, supporting, and covering up these unjustified killings. The American people deserve more from their leader," Green wrote to Trump.

**Between the lines:** Green, who lost his primary to fellow Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) in May, has positioned himself as one of the president's most obdurate critics in Congress.

* He was escorted out of Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress last year and his State of the Union this year, both times for heckling.
* He mounted rogue efforts to impeach Trump in 2017, 2018, and twicelast year, but all of his attempts were quashed in bipartisan procedural votes.

**What we're hearing:** A third House Democrat vented that "Rep. Green appears to only be thinking about himself. Not about strategy. Not about building a coalition."

* "We need serious people in our caucus focused on the mission: flipping the House to end this national nightmare," the lawmaker said.
* A fourth House Democrat told Axios: "Sure, he will excite the non-strategic activist crowd. But why is he empowering Trump?"
* "Every time you swing and miss at the guy, his approval rating goes up. Look for other ways to get attention," they added.

**Between the lines:** Others, including party leadership, are brushing the vote off as a distraction.

* "Another day, another Al Green moment," a Democratic leadership source said.
* A fifth House Democrat told Axios: "Obviously, he is looking to keep his profile up. Don't think this fundamentally changes anything."

**The other side:** "Where is the fight in the Democrats that are speaking anonymously? ... They don't have the courage to stand up and face me," Green told Axios.

* "I would challenge any one of them or all of them to debate me." he added.
* Green also pushed back on the argument that his impeachment vote is pointless: "Rosa Parks didn't know she was going to win. In fact, Rosa Parks knew she wouldn't win the night she took a seat on that bus."
* "Not one of them indicated that the president's actions are not impeachable, yet these Democrats are going to vote to stall and/or prevent the president from being impeached," the Texas Democrat said.

**The intrigue:** Some Democrats who privately dislike Green's impeachment push likely *will* vote for it anyway for fear of backlash from the party base.

* "If he forces it, I have no choice but to vote for it," acknowledged the third House Democrat.
* There are also some true believers like Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who is also leaving Congress next year after losing his primary and told Axios: "Obviously I will be voting for \[it]."

**What to watch:** While Democrats can easily shrug off this vote as a farce, they will face a very real dilemma next year if they retake control of one or both chambers of Congress, as Axios previously reported.

* House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is toeing a careful line on the issue, saying in a CNN interview last month, "We haven't ruled anything in, and we haven't ruled anything out."
* His public ambivalence reflects genuine divisions among House Democrats as to whether it is worth trying to impeach Trump a third time.

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