Three Democrat members of the United States House of Representatives have asked to be removed from a resolution seeking to impeach President Donald Trump for a third time.
Earlier this week, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced articles of impeachment against Trump, with a few of his colleagues initially co-sponsoring his proposal.
However, Democratic Reps. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, Robin Kelly of Illinois and Jerry Nadler of New York asked on Tuesday to be removed from the impeachment resolution, The Hill reported.
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Spokespeople for Mfume and Kelly told The Hill that they had asked to be removed because the resolution did not have the official backing of House Democratic leadership.
As a result of the removals, the lone remaining co-sponsor for the resolution was Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., though Thanedar remained committed to advancing the articles.
On Monday, Thanedar announced his intention to introduce a resolution attempting to impeach Trump, with seven articles claiming that Trump had engaged in various unconstitutional actions.
These included allegations of obstruction of justice, usurpation of appropriations power, abuse of trade powers, First Amendment violations, unlawful creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, bribery and corruption and tyrannical overreach.
“Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he is unfit to serve as President and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s constitution and our democracy,” said Thanedar in a statement.
“His unlawful actions have subverted the justice system, violated the separation of powers, and placed personal power and self-interest above public service. We cannot wait for more damage to be done. Congress must act.”
However, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said at a press conference that Democrat leadership had no intention of pursuing impeachment.
“Impeachment is, at times, a tool that can be used. This president is no stranger to that; he’s been impeached twice,” Aguilar told reporters in the Capitol, The Hill reported.
“But we don’t have any confidence that House and Senate Republicans would do their jobs. And so this is not an exercise that we’re willing to undertake.”
Trump was impeached twice during his first term in office, with the Republican president surviving both attempts to throw him out of office via largely party-line votes.
The first vote was held in February 2020, when the Senate narrowly voted down two articles of impeachment alleging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over Trump’s alleged efforts to have Ukraine investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Burisma.
Although some viewed these alleged actions and the administration’s purported mistreatment of a whistleblower as unlawful, neither article of impeachment received a Senate majority vote.
In January 2021, Trump made history as the first president to be impeached twice, as the House voted to impeach him on the allegation of committing an “incitement of insurrection” after a group of his supporters stormed the Capitol building after a speech at the Ellipse where he called on the crowd to peacefully protest the certification of the 2020 election results.
The following month, the Senate failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority to find Trump guilty, with 57 senators voting to convict him, while 43 senators voted to acquit him.
