What were the charges in Donald Trump's third impeachment and who brought them?
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Executive summary
Representative Al Green filed articles to impeach President Donald J. Trump in December 2025, alleging abuse of power, promotion of violence and threats against members of Congress and the judiciary, and other high crimes and misdemeanors; the resolution text (H.Res.939) characterizes the conduct as calls for execution of lawmakers and attacks on judicial independence [1]. Other House resolutions (H.Res.353, H.Res.537, H.Res.537 text) likewise frame impeachment around “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including unauthorized use of force and threats to democratic institutions [2] [3].
1. What the filed articles say — violence, threats and abuse of power
The most fully publicized set of articles, H.Res.939 filed by Rep. Al Green, accuses President Trump of promoting and reposting rhetoric that calls for the execution of members of Congress and of attacking federal judges in ways the resolution says have led to increased violent threats against the judiciary; it frames those actions as reckless abuses of presidential power warranting impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors” [1] [4]. The text documents specific social-media posts the sponsor points to — e.g., alleged reposts like “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!” and language saying “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” — and argues those messages promote extra‑judicial punishment and assail judicial independence [1].
2. Other resolutions and related grounds — use of force and threats to democracy
Separate House-language in H.Res.537 and H.Res.353 likewise describes the impeachment justification in broad constitutional terms: charging Trump with conduct that constitutes an abuse of power, including alleged unilateral, unprovoked uses of force without congressional authorization and actions that “facilitate the devolution of American democracy into authoritarianism,” language presented as grounds for impeachment and removal [3] [2]. Those texts cast the president as a continuing threat to democratic norms should he remain in office [3].
3. Who brought the articles — individual House members and advocacy backing
The December 10, 2025 filing of H.Res.939 was submitted by Rep. Al Green (D‑TX); Green’s office made the resolution and its articles public and posted the detailed text and supporting letter [5] [4]. Other members have introduced separate privileged resolutions and earlier efforts: Shri Thanedar introduced a separate set of seven articles in May 2025 alleging obstruction, bribery and corruption (reported in background summaries) and multiple impeachment initiatives have been catalogued and supported by advocacy campaigns such as “Impeach Trump Again” and Free Speech For People [6] [7].
4. Politics and prospects — House dynamics and reactions
News reporting and vote tallies show that within the Democratic caucus there has been resistance to aggressive impeachment moves; one account notes 23 Democrats voted against the specific Green effort and many others voted “present,” and House Republican leadership has largely moved to table such resolutions — reflecting that, with Republican control of the House and Senate dynamics, these efforts were not expected to lead to conviction [8]. Advocacy groups characterize repeated filings as an effort to document grounds for removal; opponents call many filings symbolic or politically counterproductive [7] [8].
5. Legal framing and precedent — impeachment as political and constitutional remedy
Congress’s Constitution Annotated and the Library of Congress bill texts frame impeachment as the remedy for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” and previous Trump impeachments are invoked as precedent for how charges such as incitement, obstruction, or abuse of power have been handled; those sources underline that impeachment is a political process where factual allegations are weighed alongside congressional judgment [9] [3]. The resolutions explicitly invoke threats to judicial independence and alleged unlawful use of force as constitutional harms warranting impeachment [3] [1].
6. Limitations in available reporting and unresolved questions
Available sources provide the text of H.Res.939 (Green) and H.Res.537/H.Res.353 (Congress.gov summaries) and media reporting on filings and intra‑caucus votes, but they do not offer a comprehensive legal analysis of each alleged act’s criminality nor do they document any subsequent Senate trial outcomes in these 2025 filings; those elements are not found in current reporting provided here [1] [3] [2]. Sources also show multiple, overlapping impeachment efforts by different members, but do not unify them into a single consolidated set of articles or a singular House vote outcome beyond the reporting on the Green filing and related House procedural reactions [5] [8].
Bottom line: Multiple House members — most prominently Rep. Al Green — filed articles in late 2025 alleging abuse of presidential power, threats to lawmakers and judges, and related attacks on democratic institutions; the publicly posted texts frame those actions as impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanors,” while political realities in Congress tempered the prospects and produced significant intra‑party disagreement [1] [3] [8].