U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, speaking in favor of the impeachment of President Trump from the floor of Congress on May 17, 2017.
U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, speaking in favor of the impeachment of President Trump from the floor of Congress on May 17, 2017. Rep. Al Green's YouTube Channel

U.S. Rep. Al Green promised Wednesday morningย that the U.S. House of Representatives would vote on the impeachment of President Donald Trump sometime before Christmas of this year. His speech on the U.S. House floor marked the Houston Democrat’s second formal call for Trumpโ€™s impeachment.

โ€œBefore Christmas, there will be a vote on the chief inciter of racism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, sexism, ethnocentrism,โ€ Green pledged, banging his fist on the podium.

Green โ€” who has called for Trumpโ€™s impeachment several times since the president took office in January โ€” unveiled formal articles of impeachment against Trump on the House floor last month. But that proposal never made it to a floor vote. Green later said he wanted to allow his colleagues more time to consider the legislation, but there was also Democratic pressure to hold off the efforts, sources told The Texas Tribune at the time.

Though Green did not say Wednesday how he planned to force a vote on his proposal, House rules allow for such a move on “privileged” resolutions within two days after giving notice of their intentions. Green emphasized the importance of constituents expressingย their views to elected officials in the meantime.

โ€œMomentum is building,โ€ he said several times. โ€œPeople should weigh in.โ€

His speech last month made Green the second Democrat to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump. U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California,ย was the first to do so in July.

Emma Platoff was a reporter at the Tribune from 2017 to 2021, most recently covering the law and its intersection with politics. A graduate of Yale University, Emma is the former managing editor of the...