3 House Dems pull names from cosponsorship of Shri Thanedar's Trump impeachment bill

Three House Democrats have pulled their names as cosponsors from the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump that were brought against the president by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI).

Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Robin Kelly (D-IL), and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) all quietly pulled their names from the articles of impeachment on Tuesday this week, The Hill reported. Seven articles were filed in Thanedar's motion.

Staff for Kelly and Mfume said that they had initially signed onto the articles of impeachment as cosponsors because they thought it had been reviewed by House Democrat leadership. They asked to remove their names after they found that the articles had not been approved.

“Congressman Mfume removed himself as a cosponsor from H. Res. 353 because he was made aware it was not cleared by Democratic leadership and not fully vetted legally — and he preferred to err on the side of caution,” a spokesman for Mfume said.

Kelly's staffer had similar comments: “The Congresswoman was under the impression that the resolution was drafted and reviewed by both the House Judiciary Committee and Leadership when she originally signed on during a vote series on the floor."

Nadler's office, however, did comment on the withdrawal when the outlet reached out for comment.

The move from the three Democrats happened following comments from Democrat Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) declaring that the Democrats would not be trying to remove Trump from office and added that it “is not an exercise that we’re willing to undertake."

“Impeachment is, at times, a tool that can be used. This president is no stranger to that; he’s been impeached twice,” Aguilar told the press. “But we don’t have any confidence that House and Senate Republicans would do their jobs. And so this is not an exercise that we’re willing to undertake.”

The articles of impeachment surrounded various qualms with the president, including the deportation of alleged MS-13 gang member and illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, as well as claims that Trump has been trying to gain "unchecked power" in the executive branch.