Democratic congressman pushes Trump impeachment, but backs down from vote

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker is backing down, for now, from a renegade bid to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump after colleagues in his own party criticized the effort and refused to support it.

Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan isn’t abandoning his resolution to impeach Trump, saying that, as an immigrant, he wants to do all he can to protect America’s Constitution and its institutions. But with his own party leaders opposed, Thanedar late Wednesday edged back from forcing a vote that was certain to fail.

“Instead, I will add to my articles of impeachment and continue to rally the support of both Democrats and Republicans to defend the Constitution with me,” Thanedar said on social media. He said other offenses could be added to the resolution, including Trump’s plan to accept a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar.

“I will continue to pursue all avenues to put this President on notice and hold him accountable for his many impeachable crimes,” Thanedar said.

It’s the third time Trump has faced impeachment efforts after being twice impeached during his first term as president -- first in 2019 on charges related to withholding military aid to Ukraine as it confronted Russia and later on a charge of inciting insurrection over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate.

Thanedar’s reversal followed multiple conversations with his fellow House Democrats in the halls of Congress and private talks with senior party leaders who urged him to reconsider.

“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,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who served as the lead manager for Trump’s second impeachment. Raskin noted that impeachment “as a constitutional matter is a mixed question of law and politics,” and that, for the moment, Democrats lacked the needed power to mount a successful effort.

Asked whether Democrats would bring impeachment charges in a future Congress should they win back power, Raskin replied: “Who knows? There’s so many things that could happen between now and then.”

Thanedar is not the only Democrat who has signaled support for impeachment efforts against Trump. But his decision to go it almost alone comes as he faces his own political challenges at home, with several primary opponents looking to unseat him in his Detroit-area congressional district.

House Democratic leaders called his resolution a poorly timed distraction as they work to generate opposition to the Republican tax cut bill.

“Right now, our focus is on health care being stripped away from the American people,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, chair of the House Democratic Caucus. “That is the most urgent and dire thing that we could be talking about this week.”

Aguilar added that Trump “is no stranger to impeachment” but said Thanedar’s proposal is “not ripe and not timely” given the Republican push to approve their tax package.

Other Democrats agreed that the party should be focused on Republican efforts to cut spending on important programs that Americans rely on, such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance.

“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,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. “The sponsor is out of sync with the mood and the trajectory of House Democrats.”

“The work that we need to focus on is that Republicans are stripping away access to health care, stripping away nutritional assistance for hungry kids, and giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations,” said Rick Larsen, D-Wash. “This resolution has nothing to do with that.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a close Trump ally, denounced Thanedar’s impeachment effort as a “sham,” “an embarrassing political stunt” and “out of touch.” He promised that his party would vote the effort down.

Thanedar’s resolution claiming Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” came as Trump is traveling in the Middle East in his first major trip abroad of his second term, violating a norm in American politics of not criticizing the president once he leaves the U.S. waters’ edge.

But Thanedar said he was pressing ahead in part because of Trump’s trip abroad and the potential conflicts of interest as the president appears to be mixing his personal business dealings with his presidential duties.

“My constituents want me to act,” Thanedar told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

“It’s time for us to stand up and speak. We can’t worry about, `Is this the right time?’ We can’t worry about, `Are we going to win this battle?’ It’s more about doing the right thing,” he said.

Impeachment of a president or other U.S. officials, once rare, has become increasingly common in Congress.

Republicans in the House opened an impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, but stopped short of action. The Republicans in Congress did, however, impeach Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Senate dismissed two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, ending his trial.

Thanedar, who’s from India, has said he came to the United States without many resources. He said he loves the U.S. and wants to defend its Constitution and institutions.

When he took over the Detroit congressional district, it was the first time in decades that the city was left without a Black lawmaker in Congress.

Staff writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.