House conservatives rally behind push to impeach Judge Boasberg over role in Trump investigation

The House Freedom Caucus is rallying behind one of its own members' push to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced an impeachment resolution against Boasberg last month for his role in Arctic Frost, a code name for ex-special counsel Jack Smith's probe into President Donald Trump and the 2020 election.

Gill argued Boasberg acted in a partisan fashion when he signed off on subpoenas and gag orders related to the investigation, including subpoenas for phone records from several Republican legislators in Congress - the news of which was made public in documents released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, this year.

But it's not immediately clear whether the push to impeach Boasberg is strong enough to launch an actual pressure campaign on House GOP leaders.

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"It absolutely should be done," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital last week. "I think this is levels above what we thought was going on. His bias is pretty clear, someone with that kind of bias cannot exist in the federal judiciary."

But Harris signaled it would not be an issue the conservative group would pressure House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on anytime soon.

"No, we have other issues as well. We're concentrated right now on the fiscal issues," Harris said when asked if he would bring the issue to House leaders. "But we have discussed that, and there is broad support to impeach the judge."

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Still, his conservative caucus appears largely supportive.

"I think there's considerable movement over here, particularly in light of, actually the genesis here, Arctic Frost … the massive concerns we have with what the judge is doing - just making up facts out of thin air and assumptions based on motives that have no basis," House Freedom Caucus Policy Chairman Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is also running for governor of South Carolina, told Fox News Digital, "I hope so," when asked if this impeachment push would be stronger than the last.

"He's so partisan. He's one of the rogue judges that exist today," Norman said. "There are consequences for what he did."

Meanwhile, Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., pointed out that he was one of the earliest supporters of impeaching judges who conservatives saw as casting overly partisan rulings in the Trump era.

"I think a lot of these judges have gone way out of bounds and violated their oaths. I'm in support of it, yeah," he told Fox News Digital.

He was more cautious when asked if it would yield results. "I don't tend to have confidence in anything around here until I see action taken. Talk is cheap," Crane said.

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Gill was one of several House Freedom Caucus members to introduce impeachment resolutions against Boasberg this past spring, when he issued an order temporarily blocking Trump's deportation flights to El Salvador. 

At the time, however, Johnson warned Republicans that impeachment was not the most practical way to curb "rogue judges" - pointing out that removal would require support in the Senate that simply was not there.

Instead, House GOP leaders rallied around a bill by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., subcommittee chair of the House Judiciary panel's subcommittee on courts.

That legislation, aimed at limiting the power of district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, passed the House in early April but was never taken up in the Senate.

Issa himself cautioned against moving too quickly toward impeachment when asked by Fox News Digital last week.

"We have a number of rogue judges, and I think before we talk about impeachment, with so many people seeing wrongdoing, both the House and the Senate need to hold appropriate hearings and evaluate just what the proper definition of good behavior is and whether not just one, but multiple judges, may have clearly violated that," Issa said. "I think that's the right way to approach it."

Issa said he was "looking at" holding a hearing on the matter when lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill after Thanksgiving.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. Courts system, which declined to comment for this story.