'Internal furor': Rogue House Dem slammed by colleagues after 'self-own'

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) made headlines for introducing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump — but his fellow Democrats are privately grousing about the way he has handled it, Axios reported on Thursday.

Thadear's articles charge Trump with a number of offenses against the Constitution, including obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and "tyranny" and list off transgressions like ignoring the Supreme Court and suspending due process. The resolution doesn't have the votes to pass a Republican House, and also isn't expected to be able to clear the two-thirds vote in the Republican Senate for a conviction.

Trump was impeached twice during his first presidency — once for abuse of power over his extortion scheme to try to force the Ukrainian government to announce a criminal investigation of the Biden family, and once for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Neither time was he convicted, although in both cases Democrats managed to attract some Republican votes to convict in the Senate.

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The new impeachment articles initially attracted some Democratic support, but some of the co-sponsors have now withdrawn as an "internal furor" rises within the caucus.

Publicly, Democratic lawmakers are sympathetic to Thanedar but urging caution, according to the report.

"Said House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.): 'The fact that people have withdrawn ... suggests people wanted to think through, collectively, the timing of it.' Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), who introduced rogue impeachment articles against Trump in 2017, told Axios there is 'no question he has committed impeachable offenses, and a fair jury might convict him, but not a jury in the Senate. It's a big messaging piece.'"

Behind the scenes, though, lawmakers are much more frustrated.

"'This is a self-own that ... fundamentally undermines our capacity to continue to have a conversation with people we need to win over,' one told Axios on the condition of anonymity. Said another House Democrat: 'Why would we do something that has failed twice as a strategy and yielded no electoral win? The guy got impeached twice, how did it work out for us?' A third told Axios: 'It seems self-serving and not a genuine effort to reign (sic) in the president.'"

Some lawmakers even accused Thanedar of orchestrating the articles of impeachment to fend off a primary challenge by state Rep. Donavan McKinney, noting that he used congressional funds to put up billboards advertising the impeachment effort in his own district.