Reports Reveal New Impeachment Move Against Trump Ahead of Holidays

Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, said on Thursday he will file articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump before Congress breaks for Christmas. He made the pledge at a Washington event and framed the move as a test of principle for his party.

“There will be articles of impeachment filed before the Christmas break, this I will pledge to you,” Green told supporters. He offered no full plan at the event and told reporters he had not cleared the move with top Democratic leaders.

Green is no newcomer to pushing impeachment. He filed a formal resolution in May and has long said bringing charges is a moral duty rather than a quick political move.

“I am Al Green, an unbought, unbossed, unafraid, liberated Democrat. I will speak truth to power, which is pretty easy to do. You simply say, ‘Power, we have a problem. Let’s solve it. I will do that, but I’ll also speak truth about power and say, power, we have a problem, and you’re it.’” That line, offered by Green in May, shows the blunt tone he brought back to the podium this week.

Still, outside observers say the filing may be more message than remedy. “Based on what has occurred thus far, I don’t think these articles of impeachment will go very far,” Heath Brown, an associate professor of public policy, told Newsweek.

Practical politics make the point sharp. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, a reality that makes a successful impeachment vote unlikely unless many Republicans break with their party.

Mr. Trump answered in the way he often does when faced with fresh charges. “Today they did it again. Some guy that I’ve never heard of…is he a congressman? This guy, he said …’ladies and gentlemen, I am going to start the impeachment of Donald Trump.’ What the hell did I do? Here we go again.”

History underlines the scale of the task. Mr. Trump was impeached twice during his first presidency and was acquitted by the Senate both times, so any new House action would face the same steep barriers on the way to conviction.

Green and his supporters say that matters less than making a public record. They argue that filing forces debate and forces colleagues to say plainly where they stand, and that a formal charge writes questions about the president into the congressional ledger.

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