Donald Trump challenges Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to impeach him

The US President has challengeed rising star of the Democratic Party Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to attempt to impeach him for authorising the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

President Trump dared political foes to try to remove him from office again, taking aim at comments by New York Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that his strikes on Iran rose to an impeachable offence, as Democrats grappled with how to respond to the weekend attack.

“Go ahead and try Impeaching me, again, MAKE MY DAY!” Trump said on Truth Social.

Ocasio-Cortez, a leading voice in the Democratic Party, said Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities without congressional approval are “clearly grounds for impeachment.” But other Democrats said that any talk of impeaching Trump in the GOP-led House was premature or unhelpful, particularly because any such action wouldn’t be possible unless Democrats regained the majority in January 2027.

Democrats batted back one impeachment proposal on Tuesday. Many focused on criticising Trump for striking Iran without authorisation from Congress and seeking to force votes on the matter.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, says that Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran without Congressional consent is an impeachable offence Picture: AFP

“We’ve got to be realistic about what we can do and what we can’t, and the distraction of having an artificial discussion about something that’s just not going to happen doesn’t bode well for the actions we need to really be watching, like cuts to Medicaid,” said Troy Carter, Democratic representative from Louisiana, on Monday, referring to a proposal in Trump’s tax-and-spending bill. Republicans are aiming to get that legislation to Trump’s desk by July 4.

“We are ahead of ourselves,” said fellow Democrat Mike Quigley from Illinois. Hours after Trump’s comments, a majority of Democrats joined with Republicans in blocking an impeachment proposal from Al Green (D., Texas), with the House voting 344 to 79 to table, or kill, it. Green, who accused Trump of “unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s power to declare war,” has repeatedly threatened to try to impeach Trump. He was ejected from Trump’s speech to Congress in March.

Trump took shots at Ocasio-Cortez in his post on Tuesday, calling her stupid and saying the “reason for her ‘rantings’ is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had” during his administration.

Ocasio-Cortez responded on X: “Mr. President, don’t take your anger out on me – I’m just a silly girl. Take it out on whoever convinced you to betray the American people and our Constitution by illegally bombing Iran and dragging us into war.”

In an interview, she defended her perspective, citing philosophical differences within the Democratic Party.

US President Donald Trump meets King Willem-Alexander (second right) and Queen Maxima (second left) of the Netherlands, along with Crown Princess Amalia ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague Picture: AFP

“I think there are some individuals in the party who think we need to roll over and play dead until an election,” she said. “I ascribe to a different rule of thought,” she said, focused on showing voters how Democrats would act if in charge.

On impeachment, the House Republicans’ campaign arm said Democrats “are the boy who cried wolf: loud, desperate, and completely unserious.” Responding to Trump’s strikes marks a politically tricky area for Democrats. A large group of lawmakers supports Israel, and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons has been a bipartisan goal for decades. There is a risk in fully opposing the attacks, which could end up being viewed in the long term as a successful disarming of a dangerous regime, one Democratic strategist said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Washington Picture: AP

Many Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries say Trump should have asked for congressional approval first. At a news conference on Monday, Jeffries demurred when asked about impeachment, emphasising the need for briefings from the administration and a possible vote on a war-powers resolution.

“There is not an appetite with leadership to go through this,” said another Democratic representative Shri Thanedar, who threatened to force an impeachment earlier this year and faced backlash from House colleagues. He said that many Democratic constituents “are angry, and they just want us to punch the bully on his nose, but we are not quite thinking that way here on the Hill.” The then-Democratic-led House impeached Trump in 2019 over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Biden family. He was impeached again in early 2021 over his role in the January 6 riots at the Capitol. Both times he was acquitted in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is needed.

New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani greets voters. His performance in the poll will be a strong indication of where the Democratic Party has moved to in response to Donald Trump’s presidency Picture: Getty Images

One House Democratic aide said moderates are hesitant to throw the i-word around at the risk of cheapening its meaning. The Constitution reserves impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanours.” Former representative Dean Phillips, who made a longshot run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024, said impeachment was a bad idea – as would be backing left-wing candidate Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race.

“Democrats wishing to lose the ‘26 midterms should promote a 33-year-old socialist devoid of executive experience for mayor of America’s largest city and impeach a president who ended a tyrannical regime’s nuclear threat while achieving a cease fire days later,” he said on X.

Democrats who shied away from impeachment threats were more inclined to support a resolution led by representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Republican, aimed at preventing future strikes in Iran without congressional approval. More than 65 Democrats have signed onto that effort as of Monday evening, though Massie said he might back off if a Trump-brokered ceasefire holds.

Top national-security House Democrats have introduced a similar resolution seeking a vote on ordering the removal of US troops “from hostilities against” Iran and making it clear that Congress needs to approve further moves.

Another Democrat Jason Crow who served as the House impeachment manager during Trump’s first trial, said his priority is understanding what US intelligence agencies had determined about Iran’s capabilities before the strikes. About impeachment, he said: “I’ve been there. I’ve done that. We saw how that turned out, so I’m focusing on other things.”

Dow Jones