128 House Democrats Join GOP to Kill Trump Impeachment Resolution
Rep. Al Green's measure calls the president "a threat to American democracy."
Over half of the Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted alongside all Republicans present on Tuesday to kill Rep. Al Green's impeachment resolution spurred by President Donald Trump's attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
The vote to table the Texas Democrat's five-page measure was 344-79, with 128 Democratic members of the House—including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.)—and 216 Republicans coming together to block the effort.
While Green has pushed to impeach the Republican president over various actions, his new resolution accuses Trump of abuse of presidential powers by disregarding congressional authority to declare war.
"President Trump's unilateral, unprovoked use of force without congressional authorization or notice constitutes an abuse of power when there was no imminent threat to the United States, which facilitates the devolution of American democracy into authoritarianism, with an authoritarian president who has instigated an attack on the United States Capitol, denied persons due process of the law, and called for the impeachment of federal judges who ruled against him—making Donald J. Trump a threat to American democracy," the resolution states.
"In starting his illegal and unconstitutional war with Iran without the constitutionally mandated consent of Congress or appropriate notice to Congress, President Trump acted in direct violation of the War Powers Clause of the Constitution," it continues.
The vote came after Jeffries faced criticism for telling reporters he had not looked at a bipartisan resolution that would require congressional approval for military action against Iran—and as Democratic leaders are under fire for their tepid response to Trump and GOP lawmakers.
In a statement after Tuesday's vote, John Bonifaz, a constitutional attorney and president of the advocacy group Free Speech for People, commended Green "for his courage and his leadership," and praised all 79 Democrats who "abided by their oath to protect and defend the Constitution and voted no on the motion to table this article of impeachment."
"Those who voted yes on that motion will be recorded in history for ignoring their oath and standing on the sidelines while this lawless president tramples on the Constitution," he argued. "They will now need to answer to their constituents on why, in the face of this attack on the Constitution, they did not stand up."
Bonifaz also noted his group's campaign to oust the Republican leader and predicted that "this was the first vote on impeaching Donald Trump in this presidential term, but it will not be the last." Trump was impeached twice during his first term.
"More than 700,000 people across the country have already joined us at www.impeachtrumpagain.org to demand that members of Congress do their job and impeach and remove Trump from public office for his multiple abuses of power," he said. "This movement will only continue to grow, and we will continue to stand up in the defense of our democracy and our Constitution at this critical moment in history."
