Al Green Announces 'Countdown To Impeachment' Against Both President Trump And VP JD Vance

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In House floor remarks on Tuesday, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) spoke about his "Countdown to Impeachment."

Transcript

00:00personal request. Leave of absence requested for Mr. Keith South for Monday,

00:08June 10th through June 12th, 2025. Without objection, the request is granted.

00:22Under the speaker's announced policy of January 3rd, 2025, the gentleman from

00:27Texas, Mr. Green, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.

00:34Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise a proud, liberated, unbought, unbossed, unafraid

00:48Democrat. And I'm proud, Mr. Speaker, to say that I rise today to recognize those that I call the

00:59impeachment warriors. I had a press statement that was sent out, and I'd like to read just a few words

01:08from it, Mr. Speaker. It reads, media advisory and public notice. Congressman Al Green recognizes

01:17the significant battle won by impeachment warriors. And then there's a subtitle. Kilmar

01:25Abrago Garcia has been returned to the United States and may get the due process authoritarian

01:35president. Trump declared he had no constitutional right to. Mr. Speaker, I'm very proud of these

01:46organizations and what they have done. They have made a difference. These organizations have been on

01:54the front line to prevent an authoritarian president from devolving our country into a total state of the

02:05authoritarianism. These organizations have taken the time to organize and mobilize within our communities.

02:15And these organizations deserve an expression of appreciation. I believe that organizations that

02:22go to this length should have a flag flown over the United States Capitol to honor what they've done,

02:28Mr. Speaker. I have in my hands such a flag. This is a flag that was presented

02:34to me upon my arrival in Congress by a member of Congress. I cherish it and I have kept it. This flag

02:43was flown over the United States Capitol. I plan to have a similar flag flown over the United States Capitol

02:51Capitol for each of the following organizations. For edification purposes, these flags will be flown over the

02:58same Capitol up the same flagpole that had a flag flown for President Kennedy, for Dr. Martin Luther King,

03:09for Rosa Parks. For Rosa Parks. I want them honored because of what they're doing to prevent an authoritarian

03:18president from devolving our country into full-blown authoritarianism.

03:24Mr. Speaker, the organizations that I would like to call to the attention of this Congress would be Free Speech for People.

03:35This organization has acquired more than 600,000 signed statements, petitions to impeach and remove

03:45President Trump from office. The Women's March, another organization that has been engaged.

03:53The May Day Movement. The 14th Now Movement. The Citizens Impeachment Now Movement.

04:01And I have two friends that I'd like to single out who have been very helpful. Jessica Denson would be one.

04:10She is with Lights On with Jessica Denson, a podcast. And my constitutional law friend,

04:18Attorney John Boniface. I plan to have these flags flown this week and they will be presented to these

04:25organizations at a later time. These flags will represent what I believe is a true testament from

04:36one member of Congress to say to them, please know that you have won a battle. You were able to bring Mr.

04:45Garcia back to this country with your work. But that battle doesn't mean that the war is over.

04:51We still have a war to fight because we have an authoritarian president in office.

04:57I have in my hand, Mr. Speaker, a column from the Washington Post.

05:05This story from the Washington Post, dated June 9th, 2025,

05:10reads as follows. This is the style of the story. It reads, California Governor Gavin Newsom

05:22says Trump is stepping toward authoritarianism. An excerpt from the actual story reads,

05:31California Governor Gavin Newsom should be arrested. This is something that President Trump said.

05:36This is from the story. President Donald Trump said he thought California Governor Gavin Newsom should be

05:46arrested. A claim that Newsom described as an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.

05:56I concur with what he said about the step, but I would simply say this.

06:01I think we're already there. We are in a country wherein a president has devolved democracy into authoritarianism.

06:13This president has done so by using executive orders. He has done so by using the very courts

06:24to move his executive orders, but by moving them such that they move slowly and get to a final judgment that would be against him.

06:36This president has disrespected the federal courts. He has disrespected the orders of the court.

06:42When the courts have said to him, even if you differ with our orders, you have to appeal these orders.

06:48You cannot decide that you're going to proceed, notwithstanding the court's implementation,

06:54a failure to implement the orders that you think should be implemented.

06:58This president has decided that judges should be impeached if they decline to follow his mandates.

07:06He has said ugly things about the judiciary and has gone so far as to say that some judges

07:13don't deserve to be on the bench and that these judges should be removed by way of orders of impeachment emanating from this very House.

07:23This president has devolved democracy into authoritarianism. He is a president ripe for impeachment.

07:33And impeachment is what we shall bring to the attention of this House.

07:37We have already filed H. Res. 415 to impeach the president.

07:43This resolution deals with the acts that he has perpetrated related to the removal of a person from this country without due process,

07:53without giving this person the opportunity to say you've made a mistake, notwithstanding the fact that his administration

08:01acknowledges that a mistake was made.

08:03This president, pursuant to these articles, should be removed from office because judges told him

08:10that he had made a mistake and that he should facilitate the bringing of this person back to the country.

08:17And he has not done so as of the time these articles were filed.

08:20This president knows that the removal without due process was an improper action, but he did it, notwithstanding the knowledge

08:31that was accorded him by some members of his staff, some persons in his administration.

08:38So I say to you, H. Res. 415, this would be articles of impeachment that we'll call to the attention of the public.

08:45This means that they'll be voted on. They'll be voted on in this House.

08:50I will read them. They will then be read again by the clerk and that thereafter they'll be voted on.

08:56Those who vote to table and there will be a motion to table.

09:00Those who vote to table will be voting against the articles of impeachment, notwithstanding all of the evidence.

09:06Those who vote to have the articles move forward will vote against tabling the articles of impeachment.

09:15And then we'll let the record stand. And I suggest to everyone, vote your conscience.

09:20I will be voting to avoid tabling these articles of impeachment.

09:24But I'm going beyond these articles of impeachment.

09:26I am going to file additional articles of impeachment this month.

09:32And these articles will relate to not only the president, but also the vice president.

09:37Both of them should be removed from office, president and vice president.

09:43And I will present these articles of impeachment to this House this month.

09:48I don't know that I'll bring them to a vote this month, but I do know that they will be presented to the House this month.

09:55The president is unfit to hold the office that he has.

10:00The things that he says and the things that he's done are clear, clearly indicative of an authoritarian presidency.

10:09Mr. Speaker, I have been censured by this House for the things that I have done.

10:15I was in here and I called to the attention of the president that he had no right, no right.

10:21I didn't say right. I said that he didn't have a mandate.

10:24But I was in essence saying you have no right to eliminate or to cut Medicaid.

10:32And then I went on to talk about Social Security and Medicare.

10:36I was among the very first to call this to the attention of not only this House and the president,

10:41but literally to the attention of this country and the globe.

10:44And I was right then. And I'm right now. The president is cutting by and through the members of the House

10:52and soon to be the Senate money from Medicaid, some 700 billion dollars.

10:58He is going to cut now Medicare.

11:00And only God knows what will happen as it relates to Social Security in the hands of my Republican colleagues.

11:06I believe that we cannot allow a president to do these things without challenging him,

11:13without confronting him whenever we have the opportunity.

11:16Having done so, I was censured for what I did. And I accepted my censure.

11:22I accepted it. It doesn't mean that I agreed with it, but I accepted my censure.

11:28Because I believe that if you protest, you've got to be prepared to suffer the consequences.

11:34I was prepared to suffer the consequences. I don't agree with them.

11:38But I believe that when we do things that contravene the laws, things that are not in harmony with society,

11:48things that are causing harm to society, I believe that there are punishments that we should suffer.

11:55If you break the law, you should suffer punishment. I believe that a president who is breaking the law

12:01by avoiding the constitutional responsibilities imposed upon him by his oath of office, by the Constitution itself,

12:11I believe that when he does this, impeachment is the remedy.

12:15If the courts cannot control him, and my Republican colleagues who have the majority in the House and the Senate won't control him,

12:24then the only thing left is impeachment. And that means that the Congress of the United States of America,

12:30in this House, this will become the court of last resort. We plan to use the court of last resort

12:37to bring justice to the country for what an unfit president is doing to devolve our democracy into autocracy.

12:49I believe that this is something that must be done, notwithstanding the fact that I have been impeached,

12:57yes, but I haven't been silenced. And I will not be silenced. I will not be silenced because too much is at stake.

13:06The country is devolving into this autocracy, this authoritarianism, and we have to speak up.

13:16I don't ask others to do what I do. I don't mind standing alone. If it means standing alone,

13:22I will stand alone. I would hope that there will be others of goodwill who will stand also.

13:27But if they don't, I leave that to them to deal with as they choose to navigate their way through this Congress

13:34and through life. So I have been silenced. No, I have been censured. Yes. And I plan to continue

13:43with this movement. This movement is something that I call now a countdown

13:49to impeachment. A countdown to impeachment. And this countdown is something that I embrace.

14:05And I embrace it with my friends, all of whom I have named. But I think sometimes it bears repeating

14:12certain things. I want the folk over at Free Speech for People to know that this countdown to impeachment

14:18that includes them. And there's more than 600,000 persons that they have on their petition.

14:24The Women's March, a group of women who have come together to claim and demand that women have the

14:31respect in this society that men have. Example, men get paid more for work that women are doing. Same

14:40work, but don't get equal pay. Some have estimated it to be about 20 plus percent, maybe 25, 26 percent.

14:48Well, there isn't a man alive who's worth 26 cents more than a woman. We have to make sure that the

14:54Women's March is supported and I'm going to support them. The May Day Movement, a movement started to

15:00make sure that this president knows that there are people who are going to march and protest to make sure

15:05that he is impeached. They're all a part of the countdown to impeachment. The 14th Now Movement, something

15:12that started very early on in the presidency, and the president's reign this time, in this president's

15:18term of office. And this movement was started to prevent what is happening now, and that is our

15:25government's devolving into authoritarianism. And finally, the Citizens' Impeachment Movement.

15:32This movement is something that has grassroots elements associated with it across the country,

15:39and I'm proud to say that they are part of the countdown to impeach, the countdown to impeachment.

15:45So again, a flag will be flown in honor of these organizations for the efforts that they've made.

15:51I will bring additional articles of impeachment to the attention of the Congress this month to impeach

15:58not only the president, but also the vice president. And finally, the articles that I have presented

16:05already to this Congress will be read and they will be voted on. And make no mistake about it,

16:12I will bring additional articles of impeachment because this president continues, continues to breach

16:20the mandates of the Constitution. And as long as he continues to do it, I will continue to bring articles of

16:26impeachment. I think we're laying the foundation for his being impeached. Finally this, there are those who

16:34contend that we should not impeach at this time. Well, I contend that there are many things that we

16:42bring to the floor of the House that we don't get the kind of results that we desire when we bring them

16:48initially. Many things. We have brought the equality legislation before the House and we passed it twice

16:57in the House. That doesn't mean that we're not going to continue with it. We're not going to give up on it.

17:02It took us almost 100 years to get the Affordable Care Act. We never gave up on it. So bringing things

17:09to the attention of the House that don't get passed the first time, that is nothing new. I believe that

17:15we will do this and we'll be persistent with it. I also know, I know that as we do it, we will gain

17:22additional momentum. There will be many who won't vote for it initially, but then there will be more

17:29the second time that will and more the third time and the fourth time and however many times it's

17:35necessary to get us to our final impeachment articles that will bring President Trump down.

17:42He does not deserve to hold the office that he holds. So impeachment is the remedy when the courts can't

17:52control him and his party won't control him. It's left up to us, those of us who have the will and the

18:00courage to bring articles of impeachment before the Congress of the United States of America.

18:06This will be done. This is my pledge. The countdown to impeachment continues and I yield back the balance

18:14of my time. The gentleman yields back.

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