Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, who made three attempts to impeach President Donald Trump during his first term, initiated his first impeachment effort in 2025.
During a tirade on the House floor, Green said, “Ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the President of the United States.”
“And [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said,” Green said.
“And still I rise, Mr. Speaker. And I rise today, Mr. Speaker, with a ‘to whom it may concern’ message. To whom it may concern: Ethnic cleansing in Gaza is not a joke, especially when it emanates from the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the world. When he has the ability to perfect what he says. Ethnic cleansing in Gaza is no joke, and the prime minister of Israel should be ashamed, knowing the history of his people, to stand there and allow such things to be said. Ethnic cleansing has been a crime against humanity. And I stand here today in the well to denounce what it was said,” Green whined.
“To denounce what the president said, to denounce the complicity of the Prime Minister of Israel, and to remind people that Dr. King was right. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and injustice in Gaza is a threat to justice in the United States of America. I rise to announce that the movement to impeach the president has begun. I rise to announce that I will bring articles of impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done,” he added.
Green squealed, “I also rise to say that the impeachment movement is going to be a grass up movement, not a top down. The people have got to move forward. The people have to demand it, and when the people demand it, it will be done. I did it before. I laid the foundation for impeachment, and it was done. Nobody knows more about it than I, and I know that it’s time for us to lay the foundation again. On some issues, it is better to stand alone than not stand at all. On this issue, I stand alone, but I stand for justice. I yield back the balance of my time.”
Other Democrats appeared lukewarm to Green’s current bid.
“It’s not a focus of our caucus,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar, D-Calif.
President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that if Iran were to carry out an assassination attempt on him, his advisers would ensure the country is “obliterated.”
While signing an executive order to impose maximum pressure on Tehran, the president revealed that he had left specific instructions in the event something were to happen to him and leaders of the Islamic Republic were responsible.
“That would be a terrible thing for them to do,” Trump said. “If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. … There won’t be anything left.” The president added that former President Joe Biden “should have said that” but did not due to a “lack of intelligence.”
The Justice Department confirmed in November that it had thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump in the weeks leading up to the presidential election.
A criminal complaint filed in September revealed that an official from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveilling, and ultimately, assassinating” Trump.
Shakeri, who immigrated to the United States as a child, was deported about 17 years ago after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction, according to the DOJ. On October 7, 2024, he was allegedly given a plan to kill Trump, according to authorities, Fox News reported.
Shakeri is reportedly living in Iran and has yet to be apprehended by U.S. authorities.