Four-time failed presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who ran twice as the Green Party nominee and twice as an independent, called on former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to help lead an impeachment drive against President Donald Trump despite previously arguing that both men should themselves be impeached and branding their conduct war crimes.
Opening Free Speech for People’s “Expert Legal Symposium on Impeachment & the Meaning of ‘Bribery or other High Crimes & Misdemeanors’” on Wednesday, Nader stated:
I think, though, the most shocking silence of all is not just the enlightened, very rich in the academic world, again, with few exceptions, but the shocking silence of our ex presidents, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and even George Bush, who despises the destruction of his AIDS program in Africa by Donald Trump.
In their luxurious retirements, they have been constantly battered by Trump publicly with almost no rebuttal or challenge. Has there ever been a greater example of cowardliness or indifference or indulgence by former presidents who have received hundreds of millions of votes and still have a lot of support in the country to go back into the arena?
Organize the citizenry, get great media, raise funds for local pro impeachment lobbying groups from liberal and conservative voters in every congressional district. These ex presidents can decisively turn the balance of power and reflect the demand of the task force and many others for the immediate impeachment and removal, we must demand that they do so.
They harbor the trust of millions of Americans for better and for worse, and they are not using that trust, given the enormous latent assets that could be awakened if they stepped forward in the public arena. Left to do whatever he wants, Trump has worsened a fascist dictatorship with police state manifestations and the beginning of reigns of terror, starting in Iran and also in some of our cities.
Nader’s comments come as Free Speech for People has been leading efforts to impeach Trump after identifying more than 25 grounds for impeachment. The group claimed this week that “a majority of likely 2026 voters nationwide support impeaching President Donald Trump” after a new Lake Research Partners survey found 52 percent of likely 2026 voters support impeaching Trump, including 55 percent of independents and 14 percent of Republicans.
In Congress, at least 80 Democrats have called for Trump’s impeachment or removal through the 25th Amendment following his comments and actions regarding Iran.
Nader’s appeal to Bush and Obama stood in sharp contrast to his past statements about both former presidents.
In March 2011, Nader remarked, “Why don’t we say what’s on the minds of many legal experts; that the Obama administration is committing war crimes; and if Bush should have been impeached, Obama should be impeached.”
Nader said Bush administration officials “were considered war criminals by many people.”
He added, “Now, Barack Obama is committing the same crimes. In fact, worse ones in Afghanistan. Innocents are being slaughtered, we are creating more enemies, he is violating international law.”
Last summer, Nader again criticized Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Biden for not more publicly confronting Trump, saying, “You think the former presidents of the United States, George W. Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Biden have civic self-respect? They’re not taking on Trump. Trump’s destroying the AIDS program, the only thing George W. Bush could be proud of, and he shuts his mouth. And they’re going after Obamacare, and Obama’s hardly speaking out. And Clinton, and so on.”
Nader has repeatedly called for aggressive action against Trump. In July 2024, he said New York Judge Juan Merchan was the “last best hope to preserve the Republic from its overthrow by Donald Trump” and pressed the judge to sentence Trump to prison following Trump’s conviction in Manhattan.
Nader and attorney Bruce Fein wrote that Trump should receive “at least a serious fraction of the 4-year statutory maximum.” They also argued that Trump represented “a clear and present danger to the peaceful transfer of presidential power.”
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