"Not a fetish, not a taboo": Democrats weigh another Trump impeachment

Zoom in: Theoretically, impeaching Trump would be easy for a unified, Democrat-controlled House.

• Many top Democrats note that Trump survived a record two impeachments in his first term — and that he'd be unlikely to be removed from office. That would require a two-thirds, bipartisan vote in a Senate that's likely to be closely divided.
• Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Trump has "already committed numerous impeachable offenses" in his second term, including usurping congressional authority. In 2021, Raskin led the second Trump impeachment, following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
• Raskin said top Democrats are "very sober about what that two-thirds requirement means on the Senate side. If anything, Donald Trump has tightened his control over the Republican Party since the last round. He's gotten rid of the senators that he viewed as not sufficiently loyal and sycophantic."

Zoom out: Other Democrats also are cautioning against an impeachment campaign if their party takes control of the House in January.

• Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a potential presidential candidate, told NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday that he supports investigations, not impeachment, "because it's not going anywhere and it's going to be a food fight."
• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said recently: "Don't be impeaching anybody ... Let's just get back to work."

Friction point: Democrats' more progressive wing is already talking about an impeachment drive.

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Floridian in March: "If you are asking me if I support impeachment, I do. I think that it's on very objective grounds of following the law or not."
• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a liberal who, like AOC, is weighing a White House run, also has argued for impeachment.
• "It's about setting a standard," he told NBC News, rejecting the notion that an impeachment would distract Democrats from pushing policy changes. "Democrats can impeach to uphold constitutional values, and at the same time have a first-hundred-day agenda that deals with the cost of living."

What's next: Trump, who denies wrongdoing, is already preparing for his third impeachment. He told reporters Wednesday that he was "never even worried" about his first two impeachments.

• "I can do whatever I want, if I want," Trump said, calling the impeachments and subsequent criminal cases against him "very illegal things."
• "I view the presidency as a very sacred position," he said. "Very sacred position. Very important. Very sacred. A position where it has to be treated properly."

Deep down, Trump might welcome an impeachment, one adviser said, "because he's in his element in chaos and when he's being persecuted."

• A longtime confidant said: "If Democrats win and start the investigations, he'll get more defiant ... Democrats won't be able to resist impeachment and he won't be able to resist daring them to do it. You think you control Donald Trump? Well, f*ck you. You don't."
• A senior administration official said the belief within the White House is that an impeachment would "just prove Democrats are all about getting Trump, and this stuff about affordability is just a hoax."

Between the lines: Democrats know they face a conflict between holding Trump accountable and delivering on their campaign promises to restore Medicaid cuts and bolster the Affordable Care Act.

• Raskin said: "Does this make sense as a matter of law and politics and public policy to advance another impeachment? That's obviously a more complex question than whether or not he's violating the Constitution when he goes to war without congressional consent or he imposes tariffs outside of the law, or he engages in unprecedented scales of corruption in abusing his office."

• "So all this is to say, it is not a fetish with us," he added. "On the other hand, it's definitely not a taboo."

Raskin, a law professor, is in line to lead the House Judiciary Committee, which would be involved in any impeachment. He emphasizes that "impeachment is by definition an intertwined question of both law and politics."

• In other words, it's not just a legal process.
• That's why the House impeaches and the president is then tried in the Senate, not the Supreme Court.

The intrigue: Some Democrats have been at odds with themselves on impeachment.

• Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), another potential 2028 candidate, said in April 2025 that he "strongly" supported impeaching Trump and that there's "no question" the president committed impeachable offenses.
• By this summer, however, Ossoff was no longer committed to it.

Behind the scenes: Some Republicans have indicated that if they keep control of the Senate in the Nov. 3 election, they could bypass an impeachment trial by simply voting to dismiss the charges.

• Senate Democrats did that in 2024, after President Biden's homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, was impeached by the House. Senate Republican leaders warned then that Democrats were setting a precedent they may not like when Republicans were in charge.

Then there's Vice President Vance. He's likely to run for president over the next two years as Democrats debate impeachment.

• "JD relishes nothing more than defending the president," an administration official said. "More 'lawfare' against POTUS will unify Republicans even more."
• "If Democrats want JD to become president, please, impeach Trump."