A Democratic-led attempt to impeach President Donald Trump for a third time failed after party leaders joined Republicans in defeating the measure — hinting at more substantial efforts to impeach the president if they win control of the House next year.
The House on Tuesday shot down the article of impeachment accusing Trump of abusing his executive power after the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers earlier this year. Lawmakers voted 232-147-47 to table the motion, effectively dismissing it from consideration.
The measure failed after House Democratic leaders opted to vote “present,” declining to either support or oppose the effort — ultimately helping to defeat the resolution.
“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a joint statement.
“The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus,” they added. “None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda.”
Still, the trio did not rule out future attempts to impeach Trump for what they believe are illegal actions by his administration — but the party leaders have been hesitant to back those efforts while in the minority, noting it’s mostly futile while Republicans control Congress.
Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas on Monday introduced a privileged resolution accusing Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors, using a procedural tool that forced House GOP leaders to schedule a vote this week.
Green listed four crimes he believes Trump is guilty of after activating Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during Operation Metro Surge, a mission designed to apprehend undocumented immigrants and deport them.
Green specifically cited the deaths of four U.S. citizens who were killed by immigration officers during that operation, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were killed in separate instances in Minneapolis after altercations with officers.
Those killings prompted an outcry from congressional Democrats, who accused the Trump administration of weaponizing immigration officers with little oversight. That pushback led to a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, the longest shutdown of a single government agency in U.S. history.
Congress ultimately came to an agreement to reopen DHS without providing funding to ICE or Border Patrol. Republicans later passed a separate package funding those two agencies without any Democratic support.
Should Democrats take control of the House next year, party leaders have indicated they would focus much of their influence on investigating what they believe to be abuses of power by the Trump administration.
“(We commit) to holding the crooks accountable using every tool available to us beginning on day one,” the leaders said in the joint statement.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term, both times being acquitted by the Senate. He is the only president to be impeached twice.
Trump has continuously warned his supporters that he would be impeached if Democrats take control of Congress, using that as a repeated message while on the campaign trail.