President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) Thursday evening, calling him a “loser in life” and demanding his expulsion from Congress. Trump shared a post from Fox News host Mark Levin on Truth Social, which argued that Raskin should be expelled for allegedly leading a plot to impeach the president and for his role as lead manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial.
“I agree with Mark Levin when he says to, EXPEL THE BUM,” Trump wrote, sharing a screenshot of Levin’s post. “Congress can never be great with people like this, who suffer massively from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), casting their vote of HATE!”
Trump also claimed that if Raskin had not received a preemptive pardon from then-President Joe Biden, “he’d be in jail right now!” Biden issued pardons to members of the Jan. 6 committee and others to shield them from potential retaliation by Trump.
Raskin’s Criticism of Trump
Raskin, a frequent critic of the president, has publicly accused Trump of using the Oval Office for personal enrichment. “We’ve never seen abuse like the kind of abuse that has taken place under Donald Trump,” he said last month. Raskin has also called for Trump to undergo a “comprehensive cognitive assessment” amid growing concerns about the president’s health. “We have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern,” Raskin stated in April.
Additionally, Raskin has been vocal about Trump’s ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a former close friend. He has demanded the full release of Epstein files, noting earlier this year that a search for Trump’s name in unredacted files available to lawmakers yielded “more than a million results.”
Expulsion Process and History
While both the House and Senate have the authority to expel members, it requires a two-thirds vote from the respective chamber, making it extremely rare. Only three lawmakers—all House members—have been expelled since the Civil War. The most recent was former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled after being charged with fraud. Santos was later convicted and sentenced to 87 months in prison but served only three months before Trump commuted his sentence.
