The idea of impeaching President Donald Trump is gaining steam among select Democrats in Congress but is an unwelcome development for many colleagues who’d rather avoid the subject altogether.
It’s familiar territory for a party that twice impeached Trump in his first term but is now an unfathomable scenario in a Republican-controlled Congress, one that could backfire for Democrats looking to claw their way back to power in the midterm elections.
“We’re going to win elections,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who clinched a battleground win in November in a state lost by former Vice President Kamala Harris, told the Washington Examiner. “We’re not playing those stupid politics. Next question.”
His colleagues, such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), had little interest in speaking about the first impeachment articles of Trump’s second term, filed Monday by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI). Democrats’ apprehension or outright dismissal of returning to impeachment just 100 days into another Trump presidency presented a clear warning that even progressives fear it could alienate voters on the heels of major election losses.
Schiff, a former House impeachment manager against Trump, pointed to his Sunday morning talk show remarks in which he told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that Democrats “should not be talking about impeachment.”
“We should keep our sole focus on protecting our institutions, the rule of law, and winning the midterms,” he told the former Biden White House press secretary.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he had yet to “evaluate the articles that were introduced” and did not have “an opportunity to talk with him about it.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) batted down impeachment as “too far away to even judge,” despite believing Trump is “violating rule of law in every way.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) became the first member of his chamber last week to essentially call for impeachment. He’s the only incumbent Senate Democrat up for reelection in 2026 in a state carried by Trump, which made his remarks all the more intriguing. He accused Trump of selling access to the White House with a digital meme coin that Ossoff said “no doubt” has “exceeded any prior standard for impeachment.”
He doubled down Monday on his position.
“The question the press should be asking is, should a sitting president in either party sell access and White House tours in exchange for investments that enrich him or his business?” Ossoff told the Washington Examiner. “I think that that is clearly, on its face, unacceptable, if we can put aside our partisanship.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who used to serve in the House with Thanedar, said she was unaware of the impeachment push by the fellow Michigander. She suggested it was a politically futile endeavor but one that could have merits based on the allegations, a strikingly similar stance to the one Ossoff relayed in his original comments last week to a frustrated constituent at a town hall.
“As someone who’s voted to impeach him twice, it’s important who’s in leadership of the House and Senate and how far this will move,” Slotkin told the Washington Examiner. “I don’t have anything against, I guess, filing. But I don’t expect it to, unfortunately, move very far.”
Thanedar’s seven impeachment articles covered an array of charges and allegations, including abuse of power, constitutional violations, and tyranny.
The White House slammed the move as desperate.
“Every action taken by President Trump and his administration is fully lawful and firmly rooted in the will of the American people,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told the Washington Examiner. “President Trump is doing exactly what he promised: securing our border, bringing in trillions of dollars in investment to America, and restoring common sense leadership. Meanwhile, Democrats are once again showing where their true priorities lie — siding with illegal immigrants over the safety, security, and well-being of hardworking American citizens. Their desperate impeachment stunt is nothing more than a reckless political act that the American people see right through.”
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Rep. Al Green (D-TX) has long said that he, too, plans to file articles but was beaten to the punch by Thanedar, who just hours earlier received his second primary challenge before dropping the impeachment news.
Daivd Sivak and Hailey Bullis contributed to this report.