The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to table articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, 237 to 140 with 47 Democrats voting “present.”
Just 23 Democrats joined House Republicans to tank a procedural vote regarding an impeachment resolution brought by Democratic Texas Rep. Al Green while 140 voted to advance the measure. Green, 78, forced a vote on his two articles of impeachment over the objections of House Democratic leadership, who voted “present” on the measure.
Green filed his articles of impeachment Wednesday, citing Trump’s call for Democratic lawmakers who participated in a viral video urging the military to “refuse” illegal orders to face arrest or trial that could be “punishable by death.”
“President Trump’s call for the execution of lawmakers is a reckless and flagrant abuse of Presidential power,” Green’s resolution says in part.
The president clarified in an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that he was not threatening death against the group of Democrats, but said the cohort was in “serious trouble.”
The Texas Democrat filed articles of impeachment against Trump several times earlier this year and forced a vote in June, which nearly 130 of his Democratic colleagues voted to table. The House censured Green in March after he repeatedly disrupted Trump’s address to Congress. Ten of his Democratic colleagues supported the effort to formally rebuke him.
House Democratic leadership released a statement Thursday distancing themselves from Green’s impeachment efforts. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team argued that impeachment generally requires national consensus and congressional oversight hearings.
“None of that serious work has been done,” Democratic leadership stated.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, slammed Green’s impeachment push as the epitome of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
“Democrats have made it clear their priority isn’t governing or helping families, it’s waging a personal war against President Trump,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. “Their fixation is out of control, and the American people won’t reward it.”
“This shouldn’t be any surprise,” House Republican Conference chair Lisa McClain told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday regarding Green’s impeachment exercise. “All they want to do is get in the way, slow down and obstruct.”
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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