Democratic lawmakers privately turned on their colleague who forced a long-shot move to impeach President Donald Trump.
Rep. Shri Thanedar put seven articles of impeachment against Trump on notice as privileged on Tuesday, meaning that the House must vote on them by Thursday. Republicans are expected to introduce a motion to table or kill the Michigan congressman’s measure.
The move set off a firestorm among Democrats, who anonymously told Axios that Thanedar was wasting time on a vanity project.
“This is the dumbest f—ing thing. Utterly selfish behavior,” one House Democrat said. Another added: “What a dumbs–t.”
“He’s really just doing it for himself,” one Democratic lawmaker said, arguing that Thanedar put his colleagues in competitive seats in a tough bind.
Several Democrats said they viewed Thanedar’s impeachment bid as a way to galvanize support in his own Democratic primary, while taking attention away from the party’s efforts to push back against Republicans’ massive tax cut bill.
“We need to focus on reconciliation,” Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider said of the tax measure. “One hundred percent of our energy is on dealing with this.”
Several Democrats told Axios that “people are p—ed” with Thanedar, calling his motion “irrelevant” since a Republican move to table it “will succeed” anyway.
Thanedar told Axios that Trump has conducted “unconstitutional” and “impeachable” actions, insisting that he won’t withdraw his measure “unless someone can convince me that many of my articles are incorrect.”
“It’s not about elections… it’s about doing the right thing,” he said. “The rest of the members have to look into their own conscience and make a decision: is this impeachable conduct or not?”
Thanedar introduced his articles of impeachment against Trump in late April, though the effort is unlikely to succeed with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress.
The articles accuse Trump of obstruction of justice and abuse of executive power, usurpation of appropriations power, abuse of trade powers, international aggression, First Amendment violations, creation of an unlawful office, bribery and corruption, and tyrannical overreach.
The measure seeks to hold Trump accountable for his market-crashing tariffs, the creation of the divisive Department of Government Efficiency, and mass deportations, among a litany of infractions.
“In this country, we have presidents, not kings,” Thanedar said Tuesday.
