The House rejected a resolution put forth by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) on June 24 to impeach President Donald Trump over the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
The motion to table the resolution passed 344–79.
The resolution accused Trump of bypassing Congress in launching the strikes on the Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan nuclear sites.
In a speech on the House floor, Green said this action falls under the categories of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“President Trump failed to seek prior congressionally mandated authorization for the use of military force,” he said. “Congressional leaders were not appropriately briefed or notified of the attack plans, despite foreign leaders being given advanced notice of the U.S. military action.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on June 22 that congressional leaders were notified after U.S. military planes left Iranian airspace.
Green said that Trump violated the war powers clause of the Constitution, which states that only Congress has the power to declare war.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told The Epoch Times in a statement that the U.S. strikes should not be condemned.
“President Trump was able to quickly accomplish what no other president has been able to achieve—thanks to his ‘peace through strength’ leadership, Iran’s nuclear program has been obliterated and a ceasefire has been agreed to,“ she said. ”Eliminating the prospect of nuclear war is a non-partisan and unifying accomplishment that everyone should celebrate as a historic moment for United States, the Middle East, and the entire world.”
Trump decried a call from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for him to be impeached over the U.S. strikes.
“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media platform X.
Trump’s response consisted of personal attacks against Ocasio-Cortez, and he dared Democrats to impeach him.
“She and her Democrat friends have just hit the Lowest Poll Numbers in Congressional History, so go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Ocasio-Cortez responded on X: “Mr. President, don’t take your anger out on me – I’m just a silly girl. Take it out on whoever convinced you to betray the American people and our Constitution by illegally bombing Iran and dragging us into war. It only took you 5 months to break almost every promise you made.”
The impeachment resolution stated: “Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, abused the powers of the presidency when he disregarded the doctrine of separation of powers by usurping Congress’s power to declare war and ordered the United States military to bomb another country without the constitutionally mandated congressional authorization or notice to Congress—cognizant of the fact that should another country’s military bomb a facility within the United States of America, it would be a de facto declaration of war against the United States of America.”
