Some Democrats defy Pelosi with intention to force impeachment vote in the House

Although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn't believe attempting to impeach President Donald Trump is worth the trouble, that isn't stopping some House Democrats from continuing the effort, according to Roll Call.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) said on C-SPAN on Tuesday that he will bring an impeachment vote to the House floor soon. It will be the third time Green has done so, but the first time in the Democratic majority House.

"It's really about whether or not we are going to tolerate and continue to allow an unfit president to be in office," Green said. "Let's just address the comments about is he worth it. This is something I've heard before. ... But it's not about him. It's not about Democrats. It's about democracy."

Impeach the president for what?

Green emphasized bigotry as being a driving force and an "action item" for impeachment.

"There are opinion-makers and opinion-shapers who want to maintain the status quo," Green said in response to a question about Pelosi's impeachment stance. "For them, bigotry is a talking point, not an action item. It's an action item for me. There's a moral imperative that trumps political expediency. ... Are we going to take on bigotry, or are we going to allow it to fester and grow?"

Green said he doesn't want to pressure anyone to vote one way or the other on impeachment, saying instead that lawmakers should vote according to their conscience.

"We will all go on record. Everybody do what you may," Green said. "I don't believe that we should lobby people and whip people as we captured it in Congress. I think we ought to vote [our] convictions. History will be there to judge us all"

Who else wants to impeach?

Even Democrats who have introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump in the past, such as Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), don't think the votes are there now, Roll Call reported.

But, in addition to Green, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said she favors impeachment because she believes that's what her constituents want.

"They always say represent your district," Tlaib told The Washington Post's Rachael Bade. "I'm representing my district."

What happens after impeachment articles are introduced?

After articles of impeachment are filed, the House has two days to decide what to do next. Democratic leaders could move to table the resolution, which is what has happened to past impeachment resolutions.

A vote on the motion to table, although not a direct vote on impeachment, would be viewed as a barometer of how much support an actual impeachment vote would have.

Fifty-eight Democrats voted against motion to table impeachment resolutions in December 2017, and 66 voted against the motion to table in Jan. 2018—meaning those lawmakers wanted a vote on impeachment likely would've supported it.