Michigan Congressman Shri Thanedar has introduced his third impeachment resolution, H.Res 1105, Impeaching Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General of the United States of America, for high crimes and misdemeanors — that is, for her abject failure to release the Epstein files as required by federal law, and her continued obstruction of justice. However, simply writing and filing articles of impeachment does not hold this administration accountable. This time, Thanedar must force a vote in the House, something he lacked the courage to do with previous impeachment resolutions for President Donald Trump’s tyrannical behavior (H.Res 353) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s murder of shipwrecked survivors in the Caribbean (H.Res 944).
Rep. Thanedar was the very first representative to pursue impeachment during President Trump’s second term. In April 2025 he actually listened to the American people — when Operation Anti-King (now Citizens’ Impeachment) coordinated a letter-writing campaign to push Congress to impeach, he was the only representative to take up the article of impeachment on tyranny offered by the citizens and incorporate it into legislation. Thanedar acknowledged that Trump posed a danger to democracy and in that moment he upheld his oath of office. He filed impeachment resolution H.Res 353, Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors, as a question of privilege of the House, forcing a vote within two legislative days.
H.Res 353 is a powerful and well-written resolution that lays out the high crimes and misdemeanors of Trump and his executive branch. There are seven articles, each identifying an aspect of this administration that undermines democracy, violates the Constitution, and harms America and its people. Thanedar calls out Trump’s obstruction of justice for Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He calls out the usurpation of constitutionally mandated congressional powers like appropriations and creation of government offices. He not only adopts the citizen-drafted impeachment resolution and names the President’s action’s tyranny, he also calls out specific abuses of power by the President: the illegal tariffs, unchecked international aggression, and repeated violations of the first amendment. And Thanedar, alone among all of the representatives, is the first and only member of Congress to connect Trump’s blatant bribery and corruption with the necessary constitutional remedy: impeachment.
And then, Thanedar let himself get bullied into withdrawing those articles because someone called him a dumbshit.
This is the God’s honest truth. A frenzied series of articles in May 2025 described the constituent-led impeachment movement as “rogue,” and characterized Thanedar’s attempt at accountability as “self-serving” and “utterly selfish,” and impeachment as “idiotic” and “horrible.” Democratic representatives were putting this pressure on Thanedar, sometimes outright, like Nancy Pelosi (CA-11) and Jerry Nadler (NY-12) did in closed-door meetings (neither are seeking re-election this year). More often, the representatives hid behind anonymity, like the coward who said that using impeachment (in accordance with their oath to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic) was a “waste of fucking time.”
Democratic leadership brought pressure to bear with name-calling and ridicule, and Thanedar choked. H.Res 353 has remained with the Judiciary committee for the last nine months, irrelevant and ignored as Trump and his administration continues to violate the Constitution, impose illegal tariffs, engage in unchecked aggression, and undermine democracy in thousands of ways. These articles of impeachment, which condemn Trump for his tyrannical behavior, have gathered dust in the Judiciary Committee while the administration has deployed federal agents like ICE and CBP to American cities to terrorize the American people.
The articles are written. If any member of Congress had the courage to file articles under Rule IX, Congress would have to vote on taking up the question of impeachment within just two legislative days.
The same is true of Thanedar’s second impeachment resolution, H.Res 935, which impeaches Hegseth for murdering shipwrecked people. It is also true of H.Res 944, filed by Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11) to impeach U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for abusing the powers of his office and undermining public health. It is especially, infuriatingly true of H.Res 996, which had 187 cosponsors and impeaches Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for obstruction of Congress, violating the public trust, and self-dealing — or rather, would have impeached her if a representative filed these articles under Rule IX and forced a vote. Noem was fired March 5, relieving Congress of the need to find the courage to impeach.
The American people deserve to know where their representatives stand on accountability for this administration, and that requires a vote on articles of impeachment. Drafting articles is not the same as a vote. Filing articles is not the same as a vote. Gathering co-sponsors is not the same as a vote. Holding a press conference about your intention to do any of this a full month before actually doing it is certainly not the same as a vote. Only forcing a vote puts Congress on the record. And forcing a vote can be done at any time, by any representative, without permission from leadership.
Thanedar could do it tomorrow by filing his articles under Rule IX and completing what he began in April of last year.
He won’t get the approval of leadership to do this because leadership loathes the idea of holding the Trump administration to account. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in particular has repeatedly denied that impeachment was possible. When dismissing Thanedar’s April 2025 impeachment resolution out of hand, Jeffries blamed the Republicans, saying they “would never allow it.”
This is a lie. Impeachment is a privileged resolution and any member of the House may bring it to a floor vote under Rule IX. By early December, Jeffries had dropped this lie and simply declined to pursue the impeachment of Hegseth. And while Jeffries could not stop Rep. Al Green’s mid-December vote to take up the question of President Trump’s impeachment — because the Constitution grants the power of impeachment to every single member of the House and Rule IX grants them the power to force a vote — he minimized the issue instead, insisting that his party would vote “present”.
But the American people have refused to give up on impeachment and Jeffries is losing his grip on the impeachment fight. Only 47 members of Congress voted “PRESENT” with Jeffries in December. In January, Jeffries declared that Congress would impeach Secretary Noem “immediately” if the administration didn’t fire her — and then explained Rule IX to CNN and highlighted that “the impeachment process is one of the few areas where every single Member has the privilege to bring a resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives and, at the appropriate time, force an up-or-down vote.”
Jeffries had to change his narrative on impeachment because the impeachment movement was not driven by a rogue member of Congress. It is led by everyday citizens who have been demanding accountability since April 2025. There are 13,000 people working with Citizens’ Impeachment to pressure their reps to impeach, more than 100 pro-impeachment, pro-democracy Courage Candidates running for election in the midterms with Courage for Democracy PAC, and grassroots organizations like FLARE USA, Remove the Regime, Free Speech for People, Blackout the System, Sons of Liberty, and more coordinating rallies, protests, and other in-person events to demand impeachment.
Representative Thanedar has the opportunity to stand with the American people and put all of his colleagues — Democrat and Republican — on the record: Are they willing to hold this administration accountable or not? The best time to impeach this corrupt regime was April 2025. The second best time is now.
Keira Havens is the executive director of Citizens’ Impeachment, a nonpartisan grassroots movement uniting everyday Americans behind the impeachment, conviction, and removal of officials who violate their oath of office. A USAF veteran, she takes her oath to the Constitution seriously, and demands that Congress does too. Citizens’ Impeachment is a project of Courage for Democracy PAC, which has endorsed more than 110 pro-impeachment and pro-democracy Courage Candidates for the 2026 midterms. For a full list of Courage Candidates, see couragefordemocracy.com.
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