House blocks maverick Dem’s Trump impeachment effort

WASHINGTON — The House easily killed a maverick Democrat’s effort Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for his recent racial insults against lawmakers of color , in a vote that provided an early snapshot of just how divided Democrats are over trying to oust him in the shadow of the 2020 elections.

Democrats leaned against the resolution by Texas Rep. Al Green by about a 32 margin as the chamber killed the measure 33295. The vote showed that so far, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been successful in her effort to prevent a Democratic stampede toward impeachment before additional evidence is developed that could win over a public that has so far been skeptical about ousting Trump.

Even so, the numbers also showed that the number of Democrats open to impeachment remains substantial. About two dozen more conversions would split the party’s caucus in half over an issue that could potentially dominate next year’s presidential and congressional campaigns.

“There’s a lot of grief, from a lot of different quarters,” Green, speaking to reporters after the vote, said of the reaction he’s received from colleagues. “But sometimes you just have to take a stand.”

Every voting Republican favored derailing Green’s measure.

Pelosi and other party leaders considered his resolution a premature exercise that needlessly forced vulnerable swingdistrict lawmakers to cast a perilous and divisive vote. It also risked deepening Democrats’ already raw rift over impeachment, dozens of the party’s most liberal lawmakers itching to oust Trump.

Recent polling has shown solid majorities oppose impeachment. Even if the Democraticrun House would vote to impeach Trump, the equivalent of filing formal charges, a trial by the Republicanled Senate would all but certainly acquit him, keeping him in office.

Pelosi, DCalif., told reporters earlier that six House committees are investigating Trump.

“That is the serious path we’re on,” she said.

Democrats are also eagerly awaiting next week’s scheduled public testimony to two House committees by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Green’s measure cites Trump’s recent racist comments imploring Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their native countries. The House voted Tuesday largely along party lines to condemn those statements . His targets were Democratic Reps. Alexandria OcasioCortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.

All are American and all but Omar were born in the U.S. They’ve also been among the party’s most outspoken advocates of impeachment.

Green’s measure was the third resolution to impeach Trump he has brought to the House floor since 2017. The eightterm veteran has spurned leadership entreaties to hold off in the past.

But while his first two efforts were symbolic because they came with Republicans controlling the House, this time Democrats run the chamber.