A House Democrat moved Tuesday to force a vote on his articles of impeachment targeting President Donald Trump, reportedly infuriating fellow Democrats who see the futile effort as a foolish political stunt.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), who filed the unpopular measure two weeks ago, announced to a mostly empty House chamber that he was offering a resolution containing the impeachment articles as a “question of the privileges of the House.”
“This President has a clear disregard for our Constitution,” Thanedar said. “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.”
Thanedar’s measure accuses Trump of a host of offenses, including abuse of power, corruption and “tyranny.”
The India-born Democrat is facing renewed accusations of his own that he abandoned dogs and monkeys at his New Jersey animal testing lab fifteen years ago after the business defaulted on its loans.
Thanedar said Tuesday afternoon that he was prompted to expedite the vote after Trump announced earlier this week that he would accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar, Detroit News reported.
Critics of the jumbo jet gift have pointed to the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars anyone holding government office from accepting any present, emolument, office or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State” without congressional consent. Trump did not get approval from the Republican-controlled Congress to accept the purported gift from the Qatari government.
“It’s time for us to take action,” Thanedar said in a statement after reading the impeachment resolution.
“He was so proud to accept that gift, had no issues with it, and this has never happened before,” Thanedar said. “The president doesn’t get it ― this bribery, his using the office for personal benefit, and I want to send a message, loud and clear.”
Thanedar’s one co-sponsor for the resolution is Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who is known for his multiple attempts to impeach Trump during his first term. Only 16 days into Trump’s second term, Green took to the House floor to announce that he was once again bringing Articles of Impeachment against Trump “for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done.”
As the congressman’s seven articles of impeachment are privileged, under House rules, Congress is forced to vote within two legislative days on whether to send the resolution to committee or table it.
House Democrats reportedly “erupted into fury and profane invective” over Thanedar’s gambit, telling Axios that the vote will put a lot of Democrats in a tough position.
“It’s going to cause Democrats in [competitive] seats to make tough decisions,” said one House Democrat.
Several lawmakers expressed suspicion that Thanedar’s impeachment effort is selfishly aimed at galvanizing support in his contested Democratic primary.
A senior House Democrat, who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity, said, “People are pissed.”
“This is the dumbest f-cking thing. Utterly selfish behavior,” said a third House Democrat.
A fourth House Dem said of Thanedar, simply: “What a dumbsh-t.”
A fifth called Thanedar’s effort “irrelevant” because Republicans motion to table “will succeed,” and predicted that some Democrats will even vote for the GOP motion.
The first House Democrat who spoke to Axios said it’s “a waste of f-cking time.”
Some Democrats also see Thanedar’s push as a distraction from their party’s efforts to message against Republicans’ massive tax cut bill.
“We need to focus on reconciliation,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the New Democrat Coalition. “100% of our energy is on dealing with this.”
Flashback: Thanedar first raised the ire of his colleagues last week by listing several colleagues as co-sponsors on his impeachment articles based on vague conversations without looping in their staffs.
Sources also alleged Thanedar misleadingly intimated that his articles were drafted in coordination with and with support from Democratic leadership.
Thanedar introduced his articles the same day that Democratic state Rep. Donavan McKinney announced plans to challenge Thanedar. The latest move to force a vote comes one day after Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) endorsed McKinney.
“He’s really just doing it for himself,” the first House Democrat told Axios.
When asked about his colleagues’ comments, Thanedar told Axios “Mr. Trump has conducted unconstitutional activities. He has conducted impeachable actions, and I have to do my constitutional duty.”
Thanedar said he had “communicated” with Dem leadership but “didn’t seek permission,”and added that he will not withdraw his motion “unless someone can convince me that many of my articles are incorrect.”
When asked about suggestions that the effort is related to his primary, he said: “It’s too early — 15 months. I’m not worried about that. It’s not about elections … it’s about doing the right thing.”
“The rest of the members have to look into their own conscience and make a decision: is this impeachable conduct or not?”
Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, who chairs the House Republican Conference, called Thanedar’s move a “pathetic” political stunt, and argued that he’s trying to distract voters from his Democratic primary challenge.
“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 Detroit 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,'” she added.
During a rally in Michigan two weeks ago to mark his first 100 days in office, Trump responded to Thanedar’s resolution, calling the Detroit congressman “a lunatic” without mentioning his name.