Congressman Al Green shouts as President Donald Trump speaks during a joint session of the House and Senate at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | via Reuters
Since the U.S. attack on Iran, Congressional Democrats and opponents of President Donald Trump have argued the operation is unconstitutional and vowed to rein in the president. But another round of impeachment — which the president has said he’s concerned about if Democrats take back the U.S. House of Representatives — is not seriously on the table.
That could change after the midterm elections if the party wins the House and Republicans lose control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. President Trump knows he will be in the crosshairs of Democrats, telling Congressional Republicans he fears a third impeachment and needs a victory in November.
“If you’re going to attack him, you want to make sure you don’t miss,” Jared Leopold, a Democratic strategist who has worked on the Hill and with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in an interview.
House Democrats convened last week to develop strategy for this year, meeting ahead of a new Iran war that President Trump launched without seeking Congressional approval, giving them another potential basis for seeking impeachment.
Impeachment tends to be unpopular with voters, and some Democrats worry that past attempts to rein in Trump are not resonating. He was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019 for withholding military aid from Ukraine to apply political pressure, and in 2021 for actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2020, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Senate voted not guilty in both cases.
However, if Democrats retake the House, there will likely be serious pressure to impeach Trump for a third time. No other president has ever been impeached twice.
“We’re not afraid of impeachment or other constitutional tools, but we’ve learned that impeachment is not a panacea,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in an interview before the Iran operation.
“For us, it’s not a fetish, but it’s not taboo either,” Raskin said. “If we believe this is the most effective way to address some of the crises in our republic that have been created by President Trump and certain members of his Cabinet, then we would need to consider it.”
Leopold said he doesn’t expect any impeachment talks to pick up steam in the short term, since any talks would simply be symbolic of Republicans holding a majority in both chambers.
“You’ve probably seen people use ‘eyewords’ in a variety of situations as a way to get attention,” Leopold said. “People primarily want to see Democrats fight back in a way that has real-world consequences. … If you’re a football team, sometimes you want to hand the ball off and get a first down instead of going for a Hail Mary on every play.”
The Iran attack did not spark a flurry of new impeachment calls, but since Trump returned to office last year, Democrats have threatened to impeach him on charges including the 2025 attack on Iran, ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro without Congressional approval, and other charges.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who said shortly after Maduro’s ouster in January that she was “reconsidering” her view that pursuing impeachment now was unrealistic, is now putting the kibosh on a similar effort.
“I don’t want to go there. I think we’re focused on what’s going on in Iran,” Waters said Tuesday as he concluded a Trump administration briefing on Iran operations. “I think we’ll look at that once we take control of the House.”
“Serious crimes and felonies”
Calls for impeachment have surfaced on the campaign trail in recent days, potentially foreshadowing a potentially contentious issue for Democrats in 2027.
The Democratic primary for Illinois’ open 9th Congressional District seat was crowded, with three candidates calling on Congress to impeach and remove Trump from office.
“The morally bankrupt Trump administration has teamed up with another morally bankrupt authoritarian to declare an unprovoked war on Iran, which has already killed scores of civilians,” candidate Kat Abu-Ghazaleh wrote on Blue Sky. “We need an immediate vote in Congress on the War Powers Resolution. Then we need articles of impeachment.”
Fellow candidates Daniel K. Biss, mayor of Evanston, Illinois, and state senator Laura Fine have similarly called for Trump’s impeachment.
Before the Iran attack, Democratic leaders were considering ways to effectively rein in Trump without drowning out other issues. Party leaders have discussed prioritizing affordability messaging, the same theme Republicans hope to focus on against President Trump in an election year.
When Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green introduced a resolution to impeach Trump in December, only 140 Democrats voted against the motion to introduce the bill. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was one of 47 Democrats who voted “present” without supporting or opposing the bill, although leadership chose not to take a vote on the resolution.
“What we’re telling our members, what we’re telling the candidates who are running, is we have to do everything we can,” Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said at a Democratic policy camp last week. “We have to have oversight and accountability and we have to talk about the affordability agenda and how we improve people’s lives if we are given the opportunity to lead and we are given the opportunity to govern.”
Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said at the rally that an impeachment attempt by Democrats is almost certain. The question is deciding on what grounds to impeach, she said. “We’re not going to give it to everyone for free,” Jeffries said.
“I think the hard part is narrowing down the felonies and misdemeanors, because I think there are felonies and felonies,” Ross said.
