Speaking at a House GOP retreat, President Donald Trump warned that Democrats would seek to impeach him if they regain control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.
“[I]f we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be — I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said. “I’ll get impeached.”
Trump was first impeached in 2019, after Democrats regained control of the House during his first term, over allegations that he withheld congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine to pressure its government into announcing investigations into his political rival, former President Joe Biden.
Trump was impeached a second time in 2021 for his role in the events surrounding the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, after he encouraged supporters to disrupt congressional proceedings certifying Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
The president has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, framing both impeachments as retaliation by political opponents he claims are part of a “deep state” for his electoral victories.
Although polling suggests most voters believe the country is on the wrong track — a dynamic that typically favors Democrats in midterm elections — NBC News reports that Republican operatives plan to use the threat of impeachment to motivate low-propensity GOP voters, even with Trump not on the ballot.
Addressing Republican lawmakers at a venue in Washington, D.C., the president complained that Democrats were “mean” to him.
He went on to claim that, if Democrats take power, they would pursue “open-border” immigration policies, defend allowing “men in women’s sports,” and impose what he described as “transgender for everyone” by forcing Americans to medically transition.
“Bring your kids in, we’re gonna change the sex of your child,” he said, repeating one of his favorite claims about Democrats and their support of transgender rights. “In some cases, like in Minnesota, they don’t even tell the parents… The kid comes back, they keep the kid, they operate on the kid, they don’t tell the parents.”
Trump’s assertion that children are receiving gender-affirming surgeries in schools without their parents’ knowledge is false.
In a rambling speech, Trump spewed on endlessly about Democrats allegedly supporting “men in women’s sports,” claiming they “fight like hell” to ensure that transgender women can compete as women in female-designated athletic events.
He followed with familiar anecdotes about transgender marathon runners, boxers, swimmers, and weightlifters whom he claimed were breaking records and winning medals, and he again performed an impersonation of a transgender weightlifter that he said draws criticism from his wife, Melania, but cheers at rallies.
The basis for the impersonation was unclear. It may have been a reference to New Zealand Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, though Trump’s account has shifted over time and does not align with Hubbard’s Olympic appearance, in which she failed to complete a successful lift.
Trump also admitted that he views the transgender athlete issue as an effective political weapon against Democrats. He further asserted that opposition to transgender participation in women’s sports is a “98-2 issue” supported by a majority of Americans.
U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is defending himself after leaked personal text messages showed him mocking fellow Democrats’ looks and criticizing them for not conforming to traditional gender norms.
In the texts, which were leaked to right-wing outlets, Gallego and a friend discuss his political future. At one point, the friend suggests that "somebody with a cool head and a solid plan could rise to the top" of the Democratic Party, according to People magazine.
"Oh man have you met my party?" Gallego replied. "I have been yelling at them this whole time."
The U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to advance a bill that would imprison doctors for providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors and punish parents who consent to their child’s treatment.
The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), would impose prison sentences of up to 10 years on medical providers who recommend or prescribe puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or surgery to transgender patients under 18. It would also criminalize parents who consent to their child’s treatment or transport them across state lines to obtain such care.
Erik Bottcher has received an endorsement from Equality PAC, the political action arm of the Congressional Equality Caucus, as he runs to succeed longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who plans to retire at the end of next year.
The openly gay Democrat, who represents Chelsea and won re-election to the New York City Council in last month’s municipal elections, is running for Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District, which Nadler has represented -- through multiple redistricting cycles -- since 1992.
Shortly after filing paperwork in October, Bottcher shattered a state record for the most money raised within 24 hours, pulling in $683,241.
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