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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."
Rep. Al Green of Texas accused Trump of "flouting of federal court orders, flouting the separation of powers, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary, and flouting the constitutional mandate of due process."
After Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar earlier this week opted not to move forward with an effort to force the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump, another lawmaker on Thursday filed a single article of impeachment against Trump, calling him a threat to democracy.
In a Thursday statement, Rep. Al Green of Texas, a Democrat, said that he "announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that I have filed H.Res.415 to impeach President Donald John Trump for condoning the flouting of federal court orders, flouting the separation of powers, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary, and flouting the constitutional mandate of due process."
In a letter, Green elaborated that he felt compelled to move forward with the impeachment push because he cannot "in good conscience... wait until the next election to deal with authoritarian President Donald John Trump's pre-election threat to American democracy that has become a post-election assault on our government."
Green's article of impeachment alleges that Trump is "devolving democracy within the United States into authoritarianism with himself (Donald John Trump) as an authoritarian president."
His resolution states that through Trump's conduct and his "violation" of the presidential oath of office, in which the president swears to "faithfully execute the office of president of the United States" and to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, he has "engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors."
In his letter, Green said that he would "call for a vote to impeach authoritarian President Donald John Trump at a time to be determined."
This year, Green has repeatedly expressed his intention to file articles of impeachment against Trump.
Green was censured earlier this year after disrupting Trump's joint address to Congress, heckling the president and telling him he had "no mandate to cut Medicaid."
Thanedar, who last month filed seven articles of impeachment against Trump, backed off from forcing a vote after Democrats privately worried that it would distract from efforts to highlight potential cuts to Medicaid and other programs as part of the Republican megabill currently making it ways through Congress, according to Politico. Publicly, Thenader said he was holding off after speaking with colleagues and that he intends to add to the impeachment articles.
The group Free Speech for People, which is mounting a campaign to drum up support for impeaching Trump again, boosted both Thanedar and Green's impeachment pushes on social media.
Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives during his first term, but in both cases he was acquitted by the Senate. Both chambers of Congress are now controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
In response to Green's resolution, the White House assistant press secretary told the Houston Chronicle, in part, on Friday: "Every action taken by President Trump and his administration is fully lawful and firmly rooted in the will of the American people. President Trump is doing exactly what he promised: securing our border, bringing in trillions of dollars in investment to America, and restoring common sense leadership."
"As Trump repeatedly undermines our democracy and ignores the Constitution, we will continue to call on Congress to fulfill its duty by investigating and, if necessary, removing this corrupt executive from office," said one legal advocate.
The nonprofit Free Speech for People, which is leading a nonpartisan campaign to drum up support for an impeachment investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump's conduct, announced Friday that it has gathered more than 250,000 petition signatures.
The campaign, called "Impeach Trump. Again.," was launched its petition on Inauguration Day. Free Speech for People also launched a campaign to build public support for Trump's impeachment on the day of his inauguration back in 2017.
Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives during his first term, but in both cases he was acquitted by the Senate. Both chambers of Congress are now controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
"The Constitution has a remedy for a corrupt, lawless president: impeachment," said John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech For People, in a statement Friday announcing the petition signatures.
Last month, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that he intends to bring articles of impeachment against Trump and Trump suggested that the United States take over the Gaza Strip—a proposal that Free Speech for People includes on its list of the president’s alleged "abuses of power."
"The movement to impeach the president has begun," Green said at the time, according to The Hill. "I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done."
Leadership with Free Speech for People praised Green's pledge to file articles of impeachment.
"We applaud Congressman Al Green for demanding that the U.S. Congress hold Donald Trump accountable through the impeachment process for his dangerous abuses of power," said Courtney Hostetler, Free Speech for People's legal director.
"As Trump repeatedly undermines our democracy and ignores the Constitution, we will continue to call on Congress to fulfill its duty by investigating and, if necessary, removing this corrupt executive from office," Hostetler continued.
Green recently made headlines for disrupting the Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, telling the president he had "no mandate to cut Medicaid," a move he was later censured for by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Free Speech for People wants Congress to launch an impeachment investigation into Trump for "abusing his power to seek retribution against perceived adversaries" and "unconstitutionally usurping Congress's powers," among other alleged offenses.