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Virginia Democrats vote to block articles of impeachment against Trump over Iran strikes

Chris Graham
US capitol washington DC trump congress
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. Photo: Crystal Abbe Graham/AFP

Democrats want you to believe that Donald Trump was acting illegally when he launched military strikes in Iran over the weekend.

Now they’re splitting hairs over how illegal the whole thing might actually have been.

Houston Democrat Al Green called everybody’s bluff, introducing articles of impeachment against Trump over what he also believes were the, direct quote, “illegal and unconstitutional” military strikes against Iran.


ICYMI


The resolution was doomed to fail in the MAGA-majority U.S. House, but who had 128 Democrats joining with Republicans to table the articles of impeachment in a floor vote on Tuesday?

“I didn’t do this because I wanted to curry favor, and I did not do this with the anticipation of a favorable outcome. I did it to make sure that the president understands that Congress has a role in the process,” Green said.

“If we had done nothing yesterday, our silence would have been an indication to the president that what he did was OK, and it is not OK to bomb another country without the consent of Congress or without appropriate notice,” Green said.

Apparently, it is OK, not only with the MAGAs, but also with mainstream Dems.

All five Democrats in Virginia’s congressional delegation voted to table the resolution – that would be, in alphabetical order: Don Beyer, Jennifer McClellan, Bobby Scott, Suhas Subramanyam and Eugene Vindman.

None offered public explanations on their votes to table.

don beyer
Don Beyer. Photo: Facebook

The closest any of them came to doing so was Beyer, who took to Bluesky to complain about Republicans blocking an amendment that he had proposed to “bar the use of funds for tactical strikes or ground operations against Iran without authorization from Congress” from getting a floor vote.

Scott was a close second with a wail about how “Trump attacked another nation without congressional authorization,” in which he noted that he has co-sponsored a resolution “to terminate any ongoing military action by the United States against Iran unless authorized by Congress.”

That resolution would have to do an awful lot of heavy lifting to stop an administration that has been systematically undermining federal law, the Constitution and the underpinnings of our system of checks and balances for the past six months, but, OK.

eugene vindman
Eugene Vindman. Photo: Eugene Vindman for Congress

Vindman was also in the vicinity of the perimeter of wisdom with a comment about how “the American people don’t want another war in the Middle East,” but “Trump made the decision to bomb Iran without first coming to Congress or making the case to the American people.”

OK, then, so, what are you going to do about it?

Obviously, nothing.

One other peripheral observation in the 24 hours since the impeachment vote came from Subramanyam:

“House Republicans are ignoring the needs of the their constituents out of fear of POTUS primarying them. We need to remind them who they are here to represent — the people.”

He’s thisclose to getting it.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].