Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, talks with reporters after a meeting of House Democrats in the Capitol on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
The House quashed a move to start impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump on Wednesday even as Democratic support for an inquiry grew.
The House tabled, or set aside, an impeachment resolution introduced by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas in a 332-95 vote. By voting against killing the measure, 95 Democrats effectively voted to move forward with the impeachment measure — more than the 66 who did so when Green put forward an impeachment resolution last year. Meanwhile, 137 other Democrats voted with the GOP to table the measure Wednesday.
Support for opening a presidential impeachment inquiry has spread in recent weeks following the release of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation. Now, 86 members — 85 Democrats and one independent — back starting an impeachment inquiry, according to NBC News.
The result does not necessarily mean the House will not take up impeachment proceedings again in the future. Some Democratic House members who support an impeachment inquiry want the process to start through the committee process rather than going directly to the House floor.
Mueller’s descriptions of several potential instances of Trump trying to disrupt the probe into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election moved some Democratic House members toward backing impeachment. But Green cited the president’s recent attacks on four liberal congresswomen of color, whom he told to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Introducing the resolution Tuesday night, Green said Trump’s “racist comments” have “legitimatized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi currently opposes impeachment as she worries about potential backlash in next year’s congressional and presidential elections. She has argued House committees should work through their current investigations into Trump’s conduct.
“We have six committees that are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power obstruction of justice and the rest that they president may have engaged in,” she told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the vote.
