Washington — The House killed a resolution to impeach President Trump on Tuesday amid renewed interest in Democrats’ plans if they retake the majority.
In a 232-147 vote with 47 lawmakers voting present, the House approved a Republican motion to table the resolution that was introduced by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who has spearheaded several unsuccessful attempts to impeach Mr. Trump.
Green’s resolution sought to impeach Mr. Trump over the conduct of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. He cited the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero by federal immigration agents this year.
House Democratic leadership did not whip the vote, but announced in a joint statement on Monday that they would vote “present” on the motion to table Green’s impeachment resolution.
“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust. The effort traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, Congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said in a statement.
“None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda,” they added.
Green, who is set to leave Congress in January after losing a primary for his newly redrawn Houston-area district, has called for Mr. Trump’s impeachment more than a half-dozen times since the president’s first term.
Jeffries has not ruled out pursuing impeachment against Mr. Trump if Democrats have control of the House for the remaining two years of the president’s second term.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is poised to lead the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats are in the majority, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” earlier this month that “we will not hesitate” to use the tool if needed and that Mr. Trump has “undoubtedly” committed impeachable offenses.
Aguilar said Tuesday that impeachment is “not anything that is top of the agenda for House Democrats.”
