Backbench Democrat uses taxpayer funds to promote Trump impeachment billboards

Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar’s office is using taxpayer dollars to put up billboards in his district highlighting his effort to impeach President Donald Trump.

Thanedar, a two-term lawmaker facing a primary opponent backed by a far-left advocacy group, introduced articles of impeachment against the president Monday. His office set up four billboards declaring “Rep. Shri Demand Congress Impeach Trump” in his Detroit-based district Tuesday, using his taxpayer-funded congressional budget, the Detroit News first reported.

“Donald Trump arrives in Michigan today to celebrate his first 100 days in office,” Thanedar wrote on X Tuesday morning. “Here’s how I’ll be greeting him.”

The president traveled to Michigan on Tuesday to give a speech in the battleground state, marking the first 100 days of his second term.

Thanedar is allowed to use taxpayer funds within his annual office budget to promote himself through mass-communication methods, including billboards, through a congressional privilege known as franking. Lawmakers are not allowed to use franked expenses in support of political campaigns, according to background on the practice by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Thanedar spent the most on taxpayer-funded advertising promoting himself out of all 435 House members in 2024, totaling roughly $930,00, The Detroit News previously reported. This amount represented nearly half of the Michigan Democrat’s roughly $2 million congressional office budget for the entire year.

The lawmaker previously told The Detroit News that people in his district are “loving” how he is “communicating” with them.

Thanedar, a multi-millionaire Indian immigrant, introduced seven articles of impeachment Monday against Trump, citing the president’s alleged abuses of executive power.

“Donald Trump has already done real damage to our democracy,” Thanedar said Monday. “In this country, we have presidents, not kings.”

House GOP leadership is expected to table Thanedar’s impeachment articles if the Michigan Democrat forces a vote on the resolution.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell criticized Thanedar’s move to impeach the president, calling it “a distraction.”

“I think we [Democrats] need to be focused on the issues that people talk about at the kitchen table every night and show them what they’re doing,” Dingell told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing on Tuesday. “I think this next month, we’re gonna be very focused on protecting people’s healthcare, making sure that we keep rural hospitals operating, that our children and our seniors are gonna have access to the healthcare that they need and be taken care of in their retirement. That’s what we need to be focused on and delivering.”

Thanedar’s office did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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