House blocks Rep. Al Green’s bid to impeach Trump over Iran strikes
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The block reflects deep divisions over presidential war powers.
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Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, is removed from the chamber as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP)
The House on Tuesday decisively voted to block an impeachment effort by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who accused President Trump of abusing his power by ordering military strikes on Iran without congressional authorization.
In a 344–79 vote, lawmakers tabled Green’s resolution, reflecting the lack of support, even among Democrats, for launching an impeachment effort over the recent weekend attack. Of those voting, 128 Democrats, including the party’s top three leaders, sided with Republicans to shelve the measure, while 79 Democrats voted to advance it.
Green, a long-time advocate for impeaching Trump, renewed his push by accusing the president of violating the Constitution by bypassing Congress in ordering strikes on three Iranian sites.
“In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, abused the powers of the presidency when he disregarded the doctrine of separation of powers by usurping Congress’s power to declare war and ordered the United States military to bomb another country without the constitutionally mandated congressional authorization or notice to Congress — cognizant of the fact that should another country’s military bomb a facility within the United States of America, it would be a de facto declaration of war against the United States of America,” the resolution stated, describing the military action as a breach of the separation of powers.
Despite Democratic frustrations over Trump’s decision, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and GOP leaders defended the strike, citing Trump’s Article II authority as commander-in-chief and emphasizing this "shouldn't even be in dispute."
“The strikes were clearly within President Trump’s constitutional powers,” Johnson said.
Still, criticism crossed party lines. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the strikes grounds for impeachment, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) deemed the action unconstitutional. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are co-sponsoring a war powers resolution to limit future military intervention in Iran. Other national security-focused Democrats are also drafting related legislation.
In a statement to The Hill, White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers claimed that Trump's "peace through strength" leadership accomplished what "no other President has been able to achieve."
The statement alleges that Iran's nuclear program has "been obliterated and a ceasefire has been agreed to. Eliminating the prospect of nuclear war is a non-partisan and unifying accomplishment that everyone should celebrate as a historic moment for United States, the Middle East, and the entire world."
Read next: US intel refutes Trump claim, Iran nuclear facilities not destroyed
Trump lashes out at media outlets for downplaying Iran strike impact
According to The New York Times, Washington media circles were expecting an official response from President Trump to the Iranian missile strike. Instead, his first statement on social media lashed out at American news networks, accusing them of undermining his claims about the destruction of Iranian nuclear sites.
On Monday, Trump escalated his media war, accusing mainstream outlets of downplaying what he called a successful US military operation against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The strikes, which hit Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, marked a major intensification of Washington's pressure campaign on Tehran.
On Truth Social, Trump claimed the targeted facilities were "totally destroyed" and lashed out at specific journalists and media networks for allegedly spreading misinformation.
"Only the Fake News would say anything different in order to try and demean, as much as possible, And even they say they were 'pretty well destroyed!' Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of 'Con'cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast's NBC Fake News. It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that's why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW — ZERO CREDIBILITY!" Trump wrote.
'Obliteration' claims refuted over and over
In a clear contradiction to Trump's claims of "obliteration", CNN reported, citing three sources briefed on a US intel analysis that the US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by a few months.
The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm, and is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by the US Central Command after the strikes, according to one of the sources.
The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing and could change as more intelligence becomes available, though the early findings contradict President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed these claims.
US intel says strikes did not obliterate, White House disagrees
Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed, and the centrifuges remain largely "intact", according to the Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, which concluded that the US strikes set back Iran's nuclear program by only a few months, at most, according to two of the people familiar with the assessment.
Moreover, multiple other official assessments contradict the president's claims. Both Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine have described the extent of the damage as "severe" but stressed that the full impact remains unconfirmed, especially given the fortified, subterranean nature of the Fordow facility, intentionally designed to resist aerial assault.
The Pentagon has stated that it is still awaiting final intelligence reports.
