Rep. Shri Thanedar, a 70-year-old Michigan Democrat drowning in primary challenges,
introduced seven articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump late last month, citing “a sweeping abuse of power, flagrant violations of the Constitution, and acts of tyranny that undermine American democracy and threaten the rule of law.”
On Tuesday, he
implored his colleagues to support his articles of impeachment, stressing, “It’s never the wrong time to stand up for our Constitution.” Thanedar’s fellow Democrats appear, however, to have convinced him it was actually a bad time.
Thanedar was set to call up the resolution for floor consideration on Wednesday, but backed down at the last moment in an apparent effort to spare himself further embarrassment.
“This week, Democrats ousted their DNC ‘leader,’ opposed the largest tax cut in history, and were exposed for actively covering up Joe Biden’s four-year cognitive decline. Now, Democrats have turned their sights to threatening impeachment. We are witnessing the collapse of the Democrat Party before our eyes,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Blaze News. “Not a single one of these efforts will help the American people. The contrast could not be more clear: President Trump is fighting for historic tax relief for the American people, Democrats are fighting themselves.”
Earlier in the day, Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California
said, “This is not the right approach we should be taking,” and in recent weeks, multiple Democrats asked for their names to be removed from his resolution.
RELATED: 3 Democrats ask to be removed from resolution to impeach Trump
Photo (left): Spencer Platt/Getty Images; Photo (center): Eric Lee for The Washington Post via Getty Images; Photo (right): Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) suggested that Democrats lacked the power necessary to successfully see the impeachment through,
reported the Associated Press.
Congressional Democrats’ approval ratings have plumbed record lows in recent weeks.
According to a YouGov poll for the Economist conducted earlier this month, 54% of Americans viewed Democrats in an unfavorable light; only 33% rated them favorably.
‘There’s no support for an impeachment resolution.’
“As I tried to explain to him, having been around the track a couple of times on this, it’s not enough to be right,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told the Associated Press. “[Impeachment] as a constitutional matter is a mixed question of law and politics.”
Aguilar noted that Thanedar’s proposal was “not ripe and not timely.”
“There’s no support for an impeachment resolution. There have been no hearings on compiling a record for which impeachment can be based. And this is just a procedure that’s meaningless at this point,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) told the Associated Press. “The sponsor is out of sync with the mood and the trajectory of House Democrats.”
Multiple sources
told Axios that Rep. Jerry Nadler (N.Y.) was applauded in a closed-door House Democrat meeting Wednesday when he called Thanedar’s impeachment push “idiotic” and “horrible.”
According to Politico, several Democratic representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Greg Casar (Texas), Brad Schneider (Ill.), and Raskin, were seen speaking privately to Thanedar on the floor before his reversal. Schneider reportedly impressed upon Thanedar the need to focus instead on Republicans’ megabill.
“In the 15 days since I filed seven articles of impeachment against President Trump, he has committed more impeachable offenses, most dangerously accepting a $400 million private jet from Qatar, which even Republican members of Congress have called wrong,” Thanedar
said in a statement on Wednesday. “So after talking with many colleagues, I have decided not to force a vote on impeachment today.”
The India-born Democrat, whose challengers include a candidate
backed by Squad member Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), noted further that he will add to his articles of impeachment and “continue to rally the support of both Democrats and Republicans to defend the Constitution with me.”
Thanedar’s withdrawn resolution claimed that Trump created an “unlawful office” by establishing the Department of Government Efficiency and accused the president of “tyrannical overreach”; “usurpation of appropriations power”; “abuse of trade powers and international aggression”; “violation of First Amendment rights”; bribery and corruption; and “obstruction of justice and abuse of executive power.”
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Shri thanedar, Impeachment, Donald trump, Trump, Congress, Democrats, Democratic, Leftism, Thanedar, Politics
