GOP Reps Plot Retaliation Against Judges Who Stood Up to DOGE
Two Republican lawmakers plan to introduce articles of impeachment after President Donald Trump mused, “Maybe we have to look at the judges.”

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Two House Republicans are planning long-shot impeachment bids against federal judges who have blocked parts of the Trump administration’s nascent efforts to disrupt the federal government.
Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said last week that he intends to introduce articles of impeachment against U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer, who earlier this month imposed sweeping restrictions on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that limit the task force’s access to sensitive Treasury Department systems.
During an appearance on disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s show on One America News Network on Wednesday, Crane claimed Democrats were trying to thwart the efforts of Musk and his gaggle of teen and twenty-something DOGE loyalists “through the judicial system with activist judges.”
Last night, I joined @mattgaetz to discuss articles of impeachment filed against partisan judges by @Rep_Clyde and myself.
— Rep. Eli Crane (@RepEliCrane) February 13, 2025
We also reviewed the current state of the reconciliation process.@POTUS is dismantling the administrative state, and Congress needs to back him up. pic.twitter.com/fOLwuOEKbx
He said that his colleague, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, would also introduce articles of impeachment targeting U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr., who ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze billions in congressionally approved federal funding last month. Last week, McConnell further found that the Trump administration had violated his court’s order.
Clyde posted on X a day before Crane’s appearance that he was already drafting the articles of impeachment.
I’m drafting articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr.
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) February 12, 2025
He’s a partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump’s funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending.
We must end this abusive overreach. Stay tuned. https://t.co/ARp7KBjK9u
To impeach the judges, Clyde and Crane would need support from a majority in the House, where Republicans enjoy a slight advantage. In order to remove them, they would need two-thirds of the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 of 100 seats.
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While the impeachment efforts are, therefore, highly unlikely to succeed, the judges have faced scorn from the very top of the Trump administration.
“Maybe we have to look at the judges because I think that’s a very serious violation,” President Donald Trump said with Musk standing beside him in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Musk himself demanded Engelmayer’s impeachment after he blocked the DOGE team from the Treasury systems.
A day after Engelmayer’s ruling, Vice President JD Vance claimed on X that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 9, 2025
If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal.
Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt last week said that “district court judges in liberal districts across the country are abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority.”
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