House expected to vote Wednesday on Green’s impeachment effort

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on Rep. Al Green’s (D-Texas) articles of impeachment against President Trump, marking the first floor vote on the issue since Democrats took over the majority.

The vote is expected sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, three aides told The Hill.

It will be the third impeachment vote forced by Green. He previously forced votes on articles of impeachment in December 2017 and January 2018, while Republicans controlled the House.

House GOP leaders moved to table both of Green’s resolutions, but about 60 Democrats voted in support of his efforts each time.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that she prefers that the House stay on its course of investigating the Trump administration before moving to impeachment. But she took care to praise Green personally as a “very prayerful person” who “cares very much about our Constitution and our country.”

“We have six committees that are working on following the facts in terms of any abuse of power, obstruction of justice and the rest that the president may have engaged in. That is the serious path that we are on. Not that Mr. Green is not serious, but we’ll deal with that on the floor,” Pelosi said at an afternoon press conference in the Capitol.

Pelosi that leaders still hadn’t decided how to approach Green’s resolution on the floor.

“I don’t know what we will do. But we will deal with it on the floor,” Pelosi said.

Democratic leaders could opt to vote to refer Green’s articles to the House Judiciary Committee, table them like Republicans did or hold a direct up-or-down vote.

Green introduced his articles of impeachment Tuesday night under a “privileged” process that requires that the House take action within two legislative days. 

The Hill’s whip list currently has 84 Democrats, as well as Independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), in favor of launching an impeachment inquiry.

Green said he is forcing his latest vote on impeachment in light of Trump suggesting that four progressive congresswomen of color — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) — “go back” to the countries they came from.

The House passed a resolution largely along party lines Tuesday night to condemn Trump’s comments as racist.

As with his previous articles of impeachment, Green accused Trump of inflaming racial tensions in America.

Green’s articles of impeachment state that Trump has “sown seeds of discord among the people of the United States” by inflaming racial tensions and “brought to the high office of president of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace, and disrepute.”

Scott Wong contributed. Updated at 1:51 p.m.