AOC floats Trump impeachment over Iran strikes
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Saturday floated the prospect of impeaching President Trump for striking Iran without explicit authorization from Congress.
Why it matters: It's a shocking declaration by one of House Democrats' most high-profile progressives at a time when most in the party are instinctively rejecting the mere mention of impeachment.
- Considerable intra-party scorn has been heaped on Reps. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Al Green (D-Texas) for floating votes on impeaching Trump.
- A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Driving the news: "The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers," Ocasio-Cortez posted on X.
- "He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations," she wrote. "It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment."
- "More soon," Ocasio-Cortez's reelection campaign wrote in a fundraising email obtained by Axios.
Zoom out: The call for impeachment puts Ocasio-Cortez on the far end of Democrats' spectrum of responses, but it reflects the broad anger with which the party has reacted to Trump's unilateral actions.
- Trump "failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
- He added: "Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action."
