U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson was one of 79 House Democrats who voted to impeach President Donald Trump on Tuesday after the Republican president ordered the launch of military strikes on Iran without congressional authorization.
The effort spurred by Rep. Al Green of Texas saw all Republicans vote against it and most of Green’s party choose to do the same. The final tallying in tabling the impeachment measure was 344-79.
Thompson – Mississippi’s lone Democrat in Washington – went to social media Saturday night after Trump’s decision to involve the country in Israeli airstrikes on Iran and called the president a “dictator.” The former House Homeland Security chair under President Joe Biden said nuclear threats must be eliminated but with congressional approval.
“I condemn this illegal act of war,” Thompson wrote. “This is something very serious that puts U.S. troops at risk and undermines our Constitution. We must stand against nuclear threats and dictators.”
Trump and his cabinet members, such as Vice President J.D. Vance, have vouched that the U.S. is “not at war with Iran, we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.” The result of the strikes, per an announcement by the president, is a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran that is holding steady after violations from both sides.
This is not the first time Trump has faced impeachment measures during his nonconsecutive terms in office. He was twice impeached by House Democrats during his first term, in 2019 over withholding funds to Ukraine as it faced Russian aggression, and in 2021 on the charge of insurrection following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In both of those cases, the Senate acquitted Trump of the charges and allowed him to continue in office.
Green, who filed earlier articles of impeachment against the president this year, has been a consistent voice against Trump’s actions which he considers authoritarian. Thompson and Trump have also consistently been at odds, specifically due to Thompson’s role leading the House select committee investigating the happenings of Jan. 6, 2021. In December, Trump said Thompson and other committee members “should go to jail.”
Trump is not the first president of recent to challenge the War Powers Act, a law passed in the early 1970s meant to divide authority over military action between Congress and the president. Other presidents to seize upon the law’s vague wording include George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
