Waging an unconstitutional war on Iran. Using the presidency for personal profit. Sending troops—ICE and the Border Patrol—to U.S. cities. And sowing doubt on democracy by constantly charging elections are rigged.
Those are just five of the 26 impeachment articles Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., has filed against Donald Trump, whose “continued presence in office is a danger to our democracy,” the lawmaker declares.
Another charge cites Trump’s defiance of federal court orders and specifically cites ICE’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Smart-TD Union member ICE abducted and deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador.
A resistant Trump finally had Garcia returned only after the Supreme Court ordered it. With the House out of session and lawmakers gone home to campaign, Cohen’s filing won’t be taken up before the Nov. 3 election. He could officially bring it up afterwards but admits he’s really laying the groundwork for impeaching Trump in the next Congress—when he won’t be there.
“Trump is clearly the most impeachable president our country has ever endured. His continued presence in office is a danger to our democracy. That the sycophantic Republican majority in Congress is derelict in its duty does not mean I must abandon my responsibilities,” said Cohen.
“I took an independent oath to support and defend the Constitution. That commitment compels me to introduce this resolution. When historians write about this period and our constituents ask who stood up to President Trump’s lawlessness, this is the answer.
“I sincerely believe that the 120th Congress will better live up to its duties as a co-equal branch of government and a check on the executive. I hope this resolution paves the way to accountability. We cannot tolerate this kind of lawlessness and corruption.”
Cohen currently represents the majority-Black district which includes Memphis, Tenn., but the heavily GOP-gerrymandered Tennessee legislature redistricted him into retirement by splitting the city into thirds and drowning its voters in a sea of white rural and MAGA Republicans.
Bringing up impeachment, though, depends on Democrats retaking U.S. House control in January. The party is split about impeaching Trump, and few if any candidates are making it an issue with a month to go before the November election.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., dismissed Cohen’s impeachment push and voted against or “present” on prior impeachment tries—on fewer charges—by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. Green also fell victim to Republican redistricting this year.
By contrast, the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a constitutional law professor on leave, takes a “wait and see” attitude on impeachment.
Cohen’s other impeachable Trump offenses besides undermining democracy and “sowing doubt on elections” (Article 1) , waging the unconstitutional Iran war (Article 2), profiting from the presidency (Article 26), the ICE sweeps (Article 4) and having ICE kidnap and deport Garcia (Article 8), include but are not limited to:
- Abuses of power through extrajudicial killings in Venezuelan waters, canceling federal grants to punish blue states, “obstructing the lawful appointment of U.S. attorneys” by naming unqualified people whom judges had to oust, and demolishing the White House East Wing in favor of his multimillion-dollar ballroom.
- Abolishing the Education Department, prosecuting three political “enemies,” illegal impoundments of money Congress appropriated and creation of the $1.776 billion fund to repay “victims” of what Trump called Biden judicial prosecution.
- Violating his oath of office by trying to end birthright citizenship, despite the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court overturned that, but other analysts say Trump still seeks an end run around that ruling.
- Attacks on free speech—by barring law firms which serve Democratic clients from any business with the federal government and coercing universities to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests on campus;
- Attacks on the free press by barring Politico, MSNOW, and CNN from covering the White House because Trump didn’t like what they wrote and the questions their reporters asked, and by coercing ABC and CBS into paying him money or threatening their businesses, and
- “Abuse of power through self-aggrandizement through the renaming of public institutions, seizure of cultural and civic property, and personal appropriation of national currency.” That’s Article 25.
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