Michigan Lawmaker’s Bid to Impeach Trump Draws Pushback From Fellow Democrats

A Michigan Democrat congressman is facing pushback from party colleagues over his recent filing of articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, which they say is a waste of time since Democrats don’t have the votes to either impeach the president or remove him from office.

The House of Representatives requires only a simple majority to impeach a president, but a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to convict and oust him.

“[The Democratic] leadership really want to not move forward with this,” Rep. Shri Thanedar explained at a Wednesday press conference about his impeachment efforts.

“They want to, you know, focus on the budget and appropriations,” Thanedar said. 

“It’s completely unhelpful,” Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., was quoted as saying regarding the impeachment effort. 

Thanedar has introduced seven counts of what he says are impeachable offenses in the House. According to a press statement, they include “dismantling congressionally established agencies” and “establishing the Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’).”

“I brought up these articles because I firmly believe this president has committed impeachable crimes. It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing,” Thanedar told The Daily Signal.

Thanedar has been criticized by several of his Democratic colleagues, who reportedly view his impeachment efforts at least in part as an effort to tack left to thwart a primary challenge from the left by a Michigan state legislator, Donavan McKinney.

McKinney has been endorsed by one of Thanedar’s Democratic colleagues from Michigan, Rep. Rashida Tlaib. 

Tlaib accused Thanedar of being missing in action when a part of his district in southwest Detroit was flooded, and her office received phone calls from his constituents. 

“He (Thanedar) was completely MIA (missing in action). … Not once did their Congress member show up or help in any way. That was the last straw,” Tlaib told The Detroit Free Press.

Thanedar disputes the accusation.

“My constituents have inspired me to bring these articles to the floor, and service to them is my No. 1 priority. This dedication includes our commitment to providing world-class constituent services,” Thanedar told The Daily Signal.

“Every month, we get several calls from residents of Tlaib’s district, and we either solve the problem or direct them to their representative. We’ve solved 3,000 cases and recovered over $3.7 million for our constituents,” he added.

Trump, for his part, was critical of the latest impeachment attempt.

“What the hell did I do? Here we go again,” the president had said at a Michigan rally in April celebrating his first 100 days in office. 

Trump referred to Thanedar as a “lunatic.”

When asked at his press conference about the prospective effectiveness of an impeachment attempt when two previous attempts have failed, Thanedar said that Trump’s opponents needed to keep trying.

“Well, we got to keep trying. If we don’t do anything, he will look at [it] as a free pass to continue to do [things]. He is totally unhinged,” the Michigan lawmaker said. 

Trump was impeached by the House twice before, once in 2019 over two articles of alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and again in 2021 on a charge of incitement of insurrection. He was acquitted by the Senate both times. Two previous presidents, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, have also been impeached and acquitted. 

The Michigan congressman appeared at least a bit skeptical of the likelihood of success for his new impeachment effort.

“Will I succeed this week? Maybe not, but we’ll continue to do this until we have a victory,” Thanedar told reporters.

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