Houston rep’s impeach bid again fails

WASHINGTON — In taking his third shot at impeaching President Donald Trump, Houston Congressman Al Green said he wanted to give House Democrats “the opportunity for us to go on record letting the world know where we stand.”

Green is now 0-3, and the House stands at 95 and 332.

Despite growing calls for impeachment both on the Hill and the campaign trial, 137 Democrats joined Republicans Wednesday in swiftly putting to rest any notion that the House will pursue action against the president anytime soon.

It was the expected outcome, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has for more than a year strongly resisted calls to start impeachment proceedings, saying instead that the House should continue to investigate the president. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is set to testify before House lawmakers about his report on Trump and Russia next week.

“With all the respect in the world for Mr. Green, we have six committees that are following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest,” Pelosi said. “That is the serious path that we are on.”

Trump cheered, tweeting that the House “overwhelmingly voted to kill” Green’s attempt, calling it “perhaps the most ridiculous and time consuming project I have ever had to work on.”

The impeachment attempt came after the House voted Tuesday to condemn Trump’s comments about four Democratic congresswomen of color. He told them to “go back” to their own countries on Sunday, and has doubled down since. The backlash over the president’s remarks — which have been widely called racist and xenophobic — has included chiding from a handful of Texas Republicans.

At a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night, Trump again went after the congresswomen, accusing one of them, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota of “vicious anti-Semitic screeds” and sparking chants of “send her back” from the crowd. Omar, a Somali American, is the only of the four who was not born in the U.S.

Green said condemning Trump isn’t enough.

“It does not punish the president, it does not fine him — he will remain in office,” he said.

The previous two impeachment attempts drew support from about 60 Democrats each.

The vote highlighted a growing divide over how to proceed on impeachment, and whether to pursue it at all.

“It was the inevitable outcome,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “There’s no consensus on how to proceed, and without consensus it would be unwise to move forward.”

But, Rottinghaus said, it may have been a blessing for Pelosi, who has fought off calls from within her party to impeach the president since even before Democrats took the House.

“She now has evidence that the caucus is too split to proceed, and that’s, in an odd way, a gift,” he said.

Among those supporting impeachment was the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that would initiate impeachment proceedings, U.S. Rep Jerry Nadler. The congresswomen Trump targeted —Omar, along with U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — also supported impeachment.

Several Texans joined them, including U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, Sylvia Garcia, Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett, who said opening an impeachment inquiry was “the only effective response given Trump's lawless, total-obstruction policy.”

Lee, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview that Wednesday’s vote shouldn’t be read as a “reflection of what will happen ultimately” as that committee continues to investigate Trump, the approach Democratic leadership has backed.

“I feel comfortable as a member of the Judiciary Committee that our work is continuing and it will be a seismic, sizable, significant final report — and recommendation for articles of impeachment, if that is the ultimate result of all the information,” she said.