As outrage grew over the Trump administration’s immigration raids and the shooting death of a Minnesota woman at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., had had enough.
After consulting with key Democratic colleagues, she began pushing for impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early January.
The decision drew mixed reactions. Two sources familiar with the response among Democratic lawmakers told MS NOW that, in a private meeting of top Democrats in early January, Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., blasted the move, saying it poses a problem for “frontliners” — members in swing seats — who must appeal to more than just Democratic voters.
As battleground leadership, Lee is responsible for voicing the perspective of the party’s most politically vulnerable members.
“It got really intense,” one of the sources said, speaking anonymously with MS NOW to discuss the sensitive moment. “People are trying to figure out how to handle it right now.”
The private moment is emblematic of a larger public problem vexing Democrats: Their base wants action amid a deluge of controversial actions from President Donald Trump and his administration, and Democratic leaders in Washington — charged with winning elections and appealing to as many Americans as possible — are trying not to alienate potential swing voters by being anti-Trump or pro-impeachment.
Not that Democrats could impeach anyone on their own right now, anyway.
Republicans control the House and Senate, albeit by slim margins, and not all Democrats are aligned on impeachment strategies. Even now, multiple Democratic members — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who quipped that he was “no mathematician” but knew the numbers — told MS NOW the votes aren’t there to move on impeachment against any Trump officials.
But Jeffries also told reporters last week that Democrats “haven’t ruled anything in and … haven’t ruled anything out.”
“Everything is on the table from the standpoint of complete and total accountability,” he said.
As Democratic leaders consider their stance, they’ve asked members to coordinate with ranking members of key committees on any potential pushes against administration officials, both to avoid surprising colleagues and to work to build consensus.
So far in this Congress, a handful of Democratic House members have filed impeachment resolutions. There’s one against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on top of the new effort against Noem. Two members also tried to launch proceedings against Trump, who was impeached by the House twice in his first term — once for an alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine and then for his actions to foment an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans in the Senate acquitted him on both charges. And the latest resolutions died on the legislative vine last year.
Still, the threat against the president looms — including in Trump’s mind ahead of the midterms.
In remarks to House Republicans during their policy retreat earlier this month, Trump implored them to stay focused on winning the November midterm elections, because if they lose control of Congress, “they’ll find a reason to impeach me.”
But the question of accountability — how to do it and what it means — is central in this Trump era, forced into greater focus given that Democrats are in the minority with few levers of power to pull.
Do they shut down the government to oppose the “most lawless Department of Homeland Security,” as Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has left open as a possibility? Do they offer articles of impeachment against Cabinet members? Would war powers resolutions, meant to restrain what the administration can do militarily, halt a march toward wars in Venezuela, Cuba and Greenland — even if Democrats could get Republicans on board to pass them?
At each new inflection point, there’s a dissonant response among Democrats.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told MS NOW in December that Trump “crossed the line” for impeachment in his first term, but suggested the actions of his second term so far don’t warrant the same reaction.
“There’s only one person responsible for the impeachment of Donald Trump, and that’s Donald Trump,” Pelosi said. “He gave us no choice, he crossed the line here and there.”
“The fact is,” she continued, “what we’re here to do is meet the needs of the American people. If he goes to a place, that’s a different story, but it isn’t something you go looking for.”
Asked for his view on the same question a few weeks later, Murphy declined to advocate for the House starting an impeachment inquiry on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” But he said he has “common sense.” “I know this president has committed 10 times more impeachable offenses in his second term as he did in his first term,” Murphy said. On Capitol Hill, after Kelly’s impeachment resolution was announced, he dismissed questions from MS NOW about whether he supported the tactic. Other Democrats, meanwhile, are convinced that now is the time to look into impeachment — whether it’s destined to fail or not. “These individual actions are impeachable offenses in their own right, but their ever-mounting cumulative impact on our country’s stability and health puts everything in a new light,” Rep. April Delaney, D-Md., said in a statement after the U.S.’ military operation in Venezuela. “I now believe that our Democratic caucus must imminently consider impeachment proceedings,” she added. Beyond discussing whether impeachment would be an effort worth their time, some lawmakers also worry such a push — even a merited one — could backfire politically. One House Democrat, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic, said an impeachment push could be a “political distraction” from the top issues during this election cycle, including affordability and the cost of living. “There are just some exuberant Democrats that are anxious to pull the trigger on impeachment, and there are many more of us who agree that a lot of impeachable stuff is happening on a weekly basis around here,” this Democratic lawmaker told MS NOW. “But it is futile to pretend that you’re actually going to do an impeachment in this Congress, and it could actually be counterproductive because it raises expectations among Democratic base voters that this is something we can actually deliver.” “Two things can be true at the same time,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told MS NOW last week. She said Trump had “absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt” committed impeachable offenses. And she said “accountability needs to be a core part of our governance.” But she also noted that she personally doesn’t run campaigns as “purely anti-Trump.” “I’ve personally never run to represent my district on grounds of impeachment or not,” she said. “I run for health care. My community wants to hear about raising the minimum wage, expanding unions, health, strengthening health care, and I think it’s important that we have an affirmative, positive vision for the country. But that doesn’t mean that we shy away from what needs to be done in terms of having accountability.”
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
