Efforts to impeach George W. Bush

thumb|A protester calling for the impeachment of Bush on June 16, 2005

thumb|Window display in [[New Orleans calling for impeachment in March 2006]]

thumb|Man protesting in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico in support of impeaching both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2008]]

During the presidency of George W. Bush, several American politicians sought to either investigate Bush for possible impeachable offenses related to the Iraq War, or to bring actual impeachment charges on the floor of the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

The most significant of these efforts occurred on June 10, 2008, when Congressman Dennis Kucinich, along with co-sponsor Robert Wexler, introduced 35 articles of impeachment against Bush to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The House voted 251 to 166 to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee on June 11, where no further action was taken on it. Bush's presidency ended on January 20, 2009, with the completion of his second term in office, rendering impeachment efforts moot.

Kucinich–Wexler impeachment articles

The Kucinich–Wexler impeachment resolution contained 35 articles of impeachment covering the Iraq War, the Valerie Plame affair, creating a case for war with Iran, capture and treatment of prisoners of war, spying and or wiretapping inside the United States, use of signing statements, failing to comply with Congressional subpoenas, the 2004 elections, Medicare, Hurricane Katrina, global warming, and 9/11.

Democrats in Congress

On June 16, 2005, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) assembled an unofficial meeting to discuss the Downing Street memo and to consider grounds for impeachment.

Conyers filed a resolution on December 18, 2005, to create an investigative committee to consider impeachment. His resolution gained 38 co-sponsors before it expired at the end of the 109th Congress. He did not reintroduce a similar resolution for the 110th Congress.

Keith Ellison (D-MN) was the leading figure behind the resolution to impeach Bush brought to the Minnesota State House of Representatives in May 2006. Ellison was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2006. During the campaign and when he was named to the House Judiciary Committee, Ellison repeatedly called for an investigation into a possible impeachment. In support of his candidacy, he "received a $1,000 contribution from ImpeachPAC". Ellison would later note that his "opinions really have not changed over time, but the circumstances" regarding his position in Congress had, and he was a "step before impeachment".

At another unofficial hearing convened by Conyers on January 20, 2006, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called for the committee to explore whether Bush should face impeachment, stemming from his decision to authorize domestic surveillance without court review.

On May 10, 2006, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicated she was not interested in pursuing impeachment and had taken it "off the table", reiterating this phrase on November 8, 2006, after the election. In July 2007, Pelosi stated that she "would probably advocate" impeaching Bush if she were not in the House nor Speaker of the House.

On December 8, 2006 (the last day of the 109th Congress), then-Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) submitted a resolution, H. Res. 1106. The bill expired along with the 109th Congress.

John Conyers brought up the subject of impeachment on the July 8, 2007, broadcast of This Week with George Stephanopoulos, stating:

<blockquote>We're hoping that as the cries for the removal of both Cheney and Bush now reach 46 percent and 58 percent, respectively, for impeachment, that we could begin to become a little bit more cooperative, if not even amicable, in trying to get to the truth of these matters.</blockquote>

Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich's major point in the Democratic Presidential Debate on October 30, 2007, was that Bush and Cheney should be impeached for the Iraq War. On November 6, 2007, Kucinich introduced a resolution to impeach Vice President Cheney in the House of Representatives.

In November 2007, Joe Biden, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, stated that he would move to impeach if President Bush were to bomb Iran without first gaining congressional approval. However, no such bombing occurred during the rest of Bush's term.

On June 9, 2008, Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), introduced a resolution, , to impeach president George W. Bush, which included 35 counts in the articles of impeachment. At the end of the evening on June 10, Kucinich offered a motion to refer HRes 1258 to the House Judiciary Committee. On June 11, the House voted 251–166 to send the resolution to the committee. The effort to impeach President Bush was not supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who believed the move would be "divisive and unlikely to succeed."

On July 14, 2008, Kucinich introduced a new impeachment resolution () limited to a single count.

State-level Democratic party actions

On March 21, 2006, the New Mexico Democratic Party, at a convention in Albuquerque, adopted a plank to their platform saying “the Democratic Party of New Mexico supports the impeachment of George Bush and his lawful removal from office.”

On March 24, 2007, the Vermont Democratic State Committee voted to support JRH 15, a state legislative resolution supporting impeachment, calling for its passage as "appropriate action."

On January 2, 2008, Betty Hall, an 87-year-old, fourteen-term Democratic State Representative, introduced New Hampshire House Resolution 24 in the State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. The resolution was "petitioning Congress to commence impeachment procedures" against Bush and Cheney for "high crimes and misdemeanors", including domestic spying, illegal detentions, signing statements, electioneering, the breaking of international treaties, and war crimes. The bill further asserted that "section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice states that an impeachment may be set in motion by the United States House of Representatives by charges transmitted from the legislature of a state".

Municipal and county resolutions endorsing impeachment

By early 2006, numerous municipalities (large and small, and in various regions of the United States) had begun considering resolutions endorsing an impeachment of Bush. By June 2007, 79 municipal governments had adopted resolutions expressing their support for impeachments against Bush and other Bush administration officials.

Several county governments adopted resolutions expressing their support for an impeachment of Bush. Among the first to do this was Dane County, Wisconsin in August 2007.

Summary of impeachment resolutions introduced

{| class=wikitable

|+ Impeachment resolutions introduced in the 109th U.S. Congress

! Resolution #

! Date introduced

! Sponsor

! Number of co-sponsors

! Action called for

! Reason

! Actions taken

| H.Res. 635

| December 18, 2005

| John Conyers (D–MI)

| style="text-align: center"|38

| Launch of an impeachment inquiry

| Allegations against the Bush administration including, "intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics"

| Referred to House Committee on Rules on December 18, 2005

| H.Res.1106

| December 8, 2006

| Cynthia McKinney (D–GA)

| style="text-align: center"|0

| Impeachment of Bush