Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas said Thursday he will attempt to force a House vote to impeach President Trump next week.
Green introduced articles of impeachment against the president last month and said he will introduce a privileged resolution demanding an immediate vote in the coming days. If the resolution qualifies, Republicans, who hold a majority of seats in the House, are expected to successfully move to table the resolution.
“I don’t know what the consequences will be, but I do know this: The people who sent me here sent me to this Congress to fight hate, not to tolerate, not to mitigate, but to eliminate hate,” Green said during a speech on the House floor. “The people I represent have an expectation of me.”
The Texas Democrat said he understands if his fellow lawmakers vote to table his articles of impeachment, send them to committee or vote on them, but said his constituents expect him to fight back against the president.
“I don’t know what the vote will be, but I do know this,” he said. “Next week, there will be a vote to impeach. Next week, there will be a resolution brought before the Congress and there will be a vote to either table it, to send it to committee or to vote it up and down. That’s what the people I represent expect me to do, and I will do no less.”
Green said earlier this month he planned to wait until Christmas before forcing a vote on Trump’s impeachment, though he did not provide a specific timeframe.
The Texas Democrat accused Trump of being a “billionaire bigot” who is doing “irreparable harm” the country. He also said the president “tolerates” the KKK, anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and homophobia, but refuses to tolerate Islam.
Democratic leaders have said they don’t support efforts to impeach Trump at this time, and forcing a vote to remove the president from office could prompt some Democrats to vote with their Republican colleagues.
Green, though, has said he will accept the consequences of forcing an impeachment vote, regardless of what they may be.
