Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not fired

What happened

House Democrats Tuesday said they would begin impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem if President Donald Trump doesn’t fire her in the wake of the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by immigration agents in Minneapolis. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his top lieutenants said in a joint statement, but America is “disgusted” by the “DHS killing spree unleashed in Minnesota,” and Noem must go.

Who said what

The “groundswell of voices” calling for Noem’s exit has grown to encompass Democratic leaders and “even the most centrist lawmakers in Congress,” The Associated Press said, and at this “defining moment in her tenure, few Republicans are rising to Noem’s defense.” At least two Senate Republicans have publicly called for her ouster and “more than three-quarters of House Democrats now back impeaching Noem,” Axios said. “Anger” at Noem “coursed through” Capitol Hill Tuesday, “especially among senators who voted to confirm her.”

It was “no small thing” that Trump “unmistakably” gave Noem a “serious knuckle rapping” earlier this week, The New York Times said. Yet her time in “Trump’s penalty box was measured in hours.” Publicly, Trump is “standing behind” Noem, “casting her as an effective secretary with a big job,” Politico said, But her “missteps in Minneapolis pile on top of already-existing concerns” about her “tenure atop DHS.”

The “growing number of Republicans” challenging the president’s team on his “signature issue of immigration” is a “potentially significant shift in the dynamics of the Trump presidency,” The Washington Post said. Along with their discomfort over Pretti’s killing, the “unusual pushback” reflects the GOP’s “increased concern that without a significant course correction, they are likely to lose control of Congress.”

What next?

Pursuing impeachment while in the minority is an uphill climb for Democrats, particularly as GOP-led committees would “review and write” the charges, said Reuters. But senior Republicans have “called for Trump’s immigration officials to testify before Congress,” the Post said, “paving the way for potentially contentious events that could be an unwelcome distraction from the administration’s message.”