A Texas congressman has filed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump while openly admitting the effort has no chance of success, calling it instead a vehicle for “on-the-record disapproval” ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Rep. Al Green filed H.Res.1486 on Monday, accusing the president of “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to immigration enforcement. But in a letter sent directly to Trump the same day, Green conceded that conviction is not the goal.
“Mr. President, I am well aware of the fact that you will be defended by persons who will say, ‘The House won’t impeach, and if it did, the Senate won’t convict,'” Green wrote. “Sir, my response is that articles of impeachment that are not approved by Congress can express on-the-record disapproval of presidential actions and demonstrate that there are some of us watching and willing to act.”
The admission lays bare what many conservatives have long suspected: impeachment has become a political messaging tool rather than the grave constitutional remedy the Founders intended.
Green’s articles target the Trump administration’s deportation agenda, carried out through the Department of Homeland Security. The Democrat claims Trump has violated his oath of office under Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution, which requires presidents to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
“This is not about Democrats versus Republicans, conservatives versus liberals, or the Left versus the Right,” Green insisted in his letter. “These articles of impeachment are about the Constitution and how you are reducing it to mere words on paper. It’s about how you attempt to bully judges and disrespect the separation of powers. It’s about how you condone violations of free speech and flout constitutionally mandated due process.”
The math tells a different story than Green’s lofty rhetoric.
Even if every House Democrat voted to impeach, the motion would need at least seven Republican members to advance to the Senate. Should that unlikely scenario unfold, conviction would require a two-thirds majority in the upper chamber, meaning 22 Republican senators would have to break ranks.
History offers little encouragement for impeachment advocates. The House has successfully impeached only three presidents: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump himself in 2019 and 2021. Not one was convicted by the Senate. Trump remains the only president impeached twice, and he survived both trials.
Green’s filing comes as Democrats eye potential gains in the November midterm elections. The congressman positioned his motion ahead of what he hopes will be a friendlier Congress come January.
Green framed his impeachment push as an opportunity for public discourse and a chance for members of Congress to go on the record. For everyday Americans watching the administration enforce immigration laws on the books, the move looks more like election-year theater.
