Rep. Shri Thanedar moves to force House vote on Trump impeachment
Published in News & Features
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar on Tuesday moved to try to force a House vote on the articles of impeachment that he filed two weeks ago targeting President Donald Trump.
Thanedar, a Democrat from Detroit in his second term, stood on the House floor on Tuesday afternoon in a largely empty House chamber and indicated that he was offering a resolution containing the impeachment articles as a "question of the privileges of the House."
Under House rules, Thanedar is formally launching an effort to try to get the GOP-controlled U.S. House to vote on his resolution to impeach Trump, though it won't necessarily do so. House Republican leaders now have two days to bring up the resolution, and members could debate it, vote to send it to committee or vote to table the resolution, which would effectively kill it.
“It’s time for us to take action,” Thanedar said in a statement after reading the impeachment resolution on the floor.
“This President has a clear disregard for our Constitution. I call on my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to stand up for the Constitution, defend their oath, and protect the American people by supporting my articles of impeachment.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thanedar's impeachment effort is unlikely to advance with Republicans controlling both chambers in Congress. Thanedar introduced the resolution two weeks ago ahead of Trump's visit to Michigan to mark 100 days in office. Trump in response called the Detroit congressman "a lunatic" at a campaign-style rally without mentioning his name.
Thanedar has said he's taking action on impeachment in response to his Michigan constituents, who are demanding that Democrats push back against the Republican president.
The seven impeachment articles accuse Trump of obstruction of justice, abuse of executive power and trade powers, usurpation of appropriations powers, bribery and corruption, creation of an unlawful office, violating First Amendment rights and "tyrannical overreach."
Thanedar has gained one co-sponsor for the resolution, Rep. Al Green of Texas, who made multiple attempts to impeach Trump during his first term. In previous sessions of Congress, when the chamber was led by Republicans, members voted to table Green's other impeachment resolutions.
Thanedar previously lost four other co-sponsors to his resolution, with the lawmakers requesting to have their names removed from the measure. Their offices indicated that Thanedar's staff had not followed up with their bosses to confirm that they wanted to be added to the resolution, with House members having come away from their conversation with Thanedar thinking that Democratic leadership had vetted the measure when that never happened.
Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, who chairs the House Republican Conference, has called Thanedar's move a "pathetic" political stunt and suggested he's trying to distract voters from his Democratic primary challengers.
"What I always say is that when you can’t beat me on the issues, you got to attack the person. This is nothing new," McClain told The News.
"When you have no vision, you have no agenda, have no plan, you have no leader, you’ve got to throw crazy stuff like this up. It doesn't make sense because they don’t have any vision. They don’t have anything they’re running on. Just 'Trump is bad.'"
Thanedar moved to force a vote on his impeachment resolution a day after fellow Detroit Rep. Rashida Tlaib endorsed one of his potential 2026 Democratic primary opponents, state Rep. Donavan McKinney of Detroit.
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