Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said on Sunday impeaching President Donald Trump for a third time would amount to “setting a standard” should Democrats retake the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.
While speaking with NBC News’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, Khanna rejected the idea that House Democrats should refrain from investigating and “potentially even impeaching” the president. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) “is warning Democrats against doing that,” Welker noted, as she said earlier in the week she’s not “interested in being in a confrontation with Donald Trump” and Democrats should simply “get back to work” if they retake the lower chamber.
“Is impeaching President Trump a third time a mistake for Democrats?” Welker asked.
“No, it’s not,” Khanna said. “Because it’s not about Donald Trump, he’s going to be a lame duck and, in my view, largely increasingly irrelevant. The point is to stand up for the Constitution.” Democrats have focused on the Trump family’s business dealings when discussing potential avenues for impeachment, an argument Khanna referenced as well.
“Impeachment says that you can’t get into an illegal war in Iran without constitutional approval; impeachment says that you can’t just start firing federal employees in defiance of what Congress says; impeachment says you can’t do deals with foreign governments to allegedly enrich your own family,” he said. “It’s about setting a standard. And the Democrats can impeach to uphold constitutional values and at the same time have a first 100 days agenda that deals wth the cost of living.”
Duckworth said she would “rather move the ball forward to the benefit of the American people,” at a Center for American Progress event on Tuesday. “And if we can do it in a way that allows [Trump] to save face and he doesn’t stop us, then that’s better for everybody all around.” Throughout Trump’s second term, Democrats have debated how to balance attacking the deeply unpopular president with promoting an alternative policy agenda, as they’ve prioritized anti-Trump messaging throughout previous campaigns in an attempt to win over voters.
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Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice. The House approved articles of impeachment against him in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress before the Senate acquitted him in February 2020. Following the Jan. 6 riots, the Senate similarly acquitted Trump after the House approved one article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection.
Though leading Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) have not openly said they plan to bring articles of impeachment against Trump should Democrats retake the House, reports indicate they will investigate the Trump family’s business dealings. Senior committee aides reportedly discussed issuing subpoenas and holding hearings as part of such investigations, which would draw attention toward Trump personally during the last two years of his presidency.