By MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday dismissed an effort to impeach President Donald Trump brought by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, the second time this year that the Democrat’s efforts to launch impeachment proceedings have been turned aside.

The House voted 237-140 to shelve Green’s impeachment resolution, with 47 Democratic lawmakers voting present. The result was expected, yet suggested a shift in support for bringing charges of impeachment against Trump among House Democrats, who rejected a similar measure by a much wider margin in June.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his deputies said in a statement before the vote that impeachment “requires a comprehensive investigative process” that had not been undertaken by the Republican majority. Yet the Democratic leaders notably declined to oppose the resolution outright, instead voting “present.”

“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust,” they said.

“None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda. Accordingly, we will be voting ‘present’ on today’s motion,” they continued.

Green has said impeachment measures are necessary because he believes Trump has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” in his second term, the constitutionally required bar for impeachment and removal from office.

Green’s resolution in June accused Trump of bypassing Congress and potentially declaring war on Iran after the administration conducted air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The latest version sought to impeach Trump for “threatening Democratic lawmakers in Congress with execution” over a social media video urging members of the military to refuse illegal orders.

“He has conducted himself in office such that persons are now threatening members of the judiciary, threatening members of the House of Representatives, threatening members of the Senate,” Green said in a brief floor speech before the vote.

Trump was impeached twice in his first term, first in 2019 by a Democratic-majority House over his push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open a corruption investigation into the Biden family ahead of the 2020 election. He was impeached a second time in 2021 by the House over his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Republicans have begun to warn that Democrats are determined to impeach Trump a third time if they win the majority, pushing it toward the forefront of next year’s campaigns. Many of them dismissed Thursday’s vote as a distraction.

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“It shows you they have no agenda. And so this is the kind of stuff that they’ve been doing, as opposed to actually trying to solve the American people’s issues,” said Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, a Florida Republican. “This is not a surprise, but it just shows you that the Democrats continue to do the same kind of thing they’ve been doing for years, which is playing games and not coming up with real solutions.”

Democratic leaders insisted they are not intent on impeaching Trump in his second term and stressed the gravity of such proceedings and the need for a thorough investigation.

Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat and vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, said there are “a diversity of views” about impeachment in the caucus. He said that House Democrats intend to conduct oversight of the administration should they win a majority in next year’s midterms but that a win at the ballot box did not guarantee an impeachment vote.

“I think you would have to have an investigation where you actually talk to witnesses and review documents and look at, you know, video and listen to audio. You need to do all of that before any decisions are made,” he said.

By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA, Associated Press

A meeting by a council appointed by President Donald Trump that was meant to announce recommended reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency was abruptly canceled Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The FEMA Review Council, which has been meeting for months to try to overhaul FEMA and was set to make its final report public at the meeting, was scheduled to gather Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, the council’s co-chair, left a Congressional hearing early because she said she needed to attend it.

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The Department of Homeland Security referred questions about the meeting’s cancellation to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment. The person familiar with the development, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly, did not give a reason for the cancellation.

Two hours after the meeting’s planned start time, a council administrator notified people who had signed up to watch that it was postponed. The administrator gave no reason for the change, and said a new date would be announced “as soon as possible.”

Trump created the FEMA Review Council by executive order in late January, the same day he proposed eliminating FEMA after touring destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. He has threatened to dismantle the agency and has repeatedly said he wants to push more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery to the states.

Council members were to present and vote on a recommendations report at the Thursday meeting. The public was invited to attend virtually and would have until Dec. 31 to submit comment on the report.

Former officials and experts told The Associated Press they were impressed by the level of care taken by the council to solicit input from experts and community members and craft meaningful reforms, but the process grew more contentious as it reached its end.

An initial draft of the much-anticipated report was slashed by Noem’s office from over 160 pages to around 20, people familiar with the developments told the AP in November, leading some council members to worry that some recommendations would be removed while others not endorsed by the council could be added.

The council is co-chaired by Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Its 12 members include emergency managers and elected officials almost exclusively from Republican-led states, including the emergency management directors of Texas and Florida, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.

If he embraces the reforms, Trump has the authority to implement some changes himself, while others would require an act of Congress.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A grand jury declined for a second time to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, refusing to resurrect a mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It’s another major blow to the Justice Department after the dismissal of earlier charges against James and another longtime Trump foe, former FBI Director James Comey, in a stunning rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to prosecute the president’s political opponents.

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A judge threw out the original indictments against James and Comey in November, ruling that the prosecutor who presented to the grand jury, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Justice Department asked a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, to return an indictment Thursday after a different grand jury in Norfolk last week refused to do so. The person who confirmed the failure to secure an indictment was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The allegations related to James’ purchase of modest house in Norfolk, where she has family.

James says the case is politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing.

James, a Democrat who infuriated Trump after his first term with a lawsuit alleging that he built his business empire on lies about his wealth, was initially charged with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in 2020.

During the sale, she signed a standard document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year,” unless the lender agreed otherwise. Rather than using the home as a second residence, prosecutors say James rented it out to a family of three, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms not available for investment properties.

The cases against James and a separate prosecution of Comey have heightened concerns that the Trump administration is using its law enforcement powers to pursue the president’s enemies.

Both cases were brought shortly after the administration installed Halligan, a former Trump lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience, as U.S. attorney amid public calls from the president to take action against his political opponents.

But U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie threw out the cases last month over the unconventional mechanism that the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan. The judge dismissed them without prejudice, allowing the Justice Department to try to file the charges again.

Halligan had been named as a replacement for Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor in the office and interim U.S. attorney who resigned in September amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James. He stepped aside after Trump told reporters he wanted Siebert “out.”

James’ lawyers separately argued the case was a vindictive prosecution brought to punish the Trump critic who spent years investigating and suing the Republican president and won a staggering judgment in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. The fine was later tossed out by a higher court, but both sides are appealing.

After the Norfolk grand jury rejected a new indictment last week, James’ lawyer said, “This should be the end of the case.”

“If they continue, undeterred by a court ruling and a grand jury’s rejection of the charges, it will be a shocking assault on the rule of law and a devastating blow to the integrity of our justice system,” defense attorney Abbe Lowell said at the time.

Comey was separately charged with lying to Congress in 2020. Another federal judge has complicated the Justice Department’s efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey, temporarily barring prosecutors from accessing computer files belonging to Daniel Richman, a close Comey friend and Columbia University law professor whom prosecutors see as a central player in any potential case against the former FBI director.

Prosecutors moved Tuesday to quash that order, calling Richman’s request for the return of his files a “strategic tool to obstruct the investigation and potential prosecution.” They said the judge had overstepped her bounds by ordering Richman’s property returned to him and said the ruling had impeded their ability to proceed with a case against Comey.

Richer reported from Washington.