House Democrats aren’t eager to impeach Trump. But that could change.
For now, few are pressing the case for a third Trump impeachment. The calculus could shift if the party regains the majority after the midterm elections.
House Democrats can point to plenty of actions by President Donald Trump that they consider impeachable offenses, including the U.S. military assault on Venezuela that captured its head of state. But party leaders don’t seem eager to do much about it until after November.
Many Democrats fear that calling for Trump’s removal would only distract from other issues they want to keep top of mind for voters heading into the midterms. And they recognize that with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate, trying to impeach Trump for a third time is not only impractical but could also risk emboldening Trump’s base to the political benefit of Republicans.
Yet the calculus could change if Democrats regain the House majority next year.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told reporters this week that holding Trump and his administration accountable is “a conversation that we’re not going to run away from.” But Jeffries said that it will be held “at the appropriate time,” quickly adding that “what unites us at this moment” is focusing on issues including the cost of living and health care.
Trump has repeatedly warned that Republicans must not let Democrats regain control of the House. In a speech last week meant to energize the House GOP, he told lawmakers that they must “win the midterms, because if we don’t win the midterms, they’ll find a reason to impeach me.”
Republicans had already been campaigning on the sentiment in hopes of showing their base what’s at stake in the midterms. A recent fundraising email sent by WinRed, which raises money for GOP candidates, said it was “pleading” with supporters to take Trump’s directive seriously, stressing: “The Democrats are already moving to impeach the President and his Cabinet the SECOND they take control of the House.”
House Democratic leaders have largely spent the past year trying to tamp down calls for impeachment, reminding their colleagues that Trump won the 2024 election despite federal indictments on dozens of criminal charges, and that Trump cannot run for a third term. Most House Democrats have fallen in line, rebuking attempts by rogue lawmakers to try to impeach Trump.
But over the past week, House Democrats have expressed a greater willingness to try to impeach Trump administration officials, particularly Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renée Good in Minneapolis last week. Democrats have launched an investigation into Noem, and leaders are not ruling out forcing a vote to try to remove her.
Under House rules, a single lawmaker can file an impeachment resolution against the president or a Cabinet official and force a vote. But the party in power has far more sway in the process, controlling committees that can launch investigations, issue subpoenas to compel testimony and hold high-profile hearings to sway public opinion.
“When we are in the majority, we will continue to ask tough questions, and we will have more tools to use, but in the meantime we should be focused on what the American people want to see,” Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-California) said.
Democrats have pointed to an array of Trump actions, aside from the military operation in Venezuela, as potential grounds for impeachment. Among them: seeking federal prosecutions of political adversaries, threatening the death penalty for members of Congress who produced a video urging the military not to obey unlawful orders, and using the military for law enforcement in several Democratic-led cities.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) both said they believe Trump has committed a wide range of impeachable offenses over the past year — but both acknowledged the difficulty of the minority party seeking to remove him from office.
Not only do Democrats lack the votes to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, but hearings would probably be run by the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee under the direction of Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
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