Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Thursday that he's open to the possibility of expunging former President Donald Trump's impeachment.
When asked at a news conference about a potential expungement, now that Republicans have a House majority, McCarthy said, "I would understand why members would want to bring that forward."
He then laid out House Republicans' other priorities, including the economy and immigration.
"But I understand why individuals want to do it, and we'd look at it," McCarthy said of expunging impeachments.
Groups of Republicans proposed resolutions to expunge both impeachments in the last Congress and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the Republican conference chair, supported a resolution to expunge Trump's impeachment over Jan. 6, according to The Washington Post.
McCarthy wasn't clear about whether the House would consider expunging one or both impeachments, but he expressed sympathy for things that Trump "went through," including allegations of colluding with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Now a 2024 presidential candidate, Trump was impeached twice during his four-year presidency: once in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from his effort to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate then-Vice President Joe Biden and once in 2021 for allegedly inciting a riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
According to the Post, the House impeachments remain part of the historical record despite Trump's acquittal both times by the Senate.
Former Rep. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican who won election to the Senate in November, introduced a measure in the 117th Congress to expunge the former president of the first impeachment from 2019. According to The Washington Times, Mullin's nine-page resolution dismantled the Democrats' case against Trump, which he described as "thinly veiled, desperate and unsuccessful attempts" to prove that Trump withheld military aid to force Zelenskyy to investigate Biden.
"Democrats used their second impeachment resolution to once again weaponize one of the most grave and consequential powers of the House," Mullin said at the time, according to the Post. "This was never about the Constitution; it was rooted in personal politics."
Trump ally Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., told the Times that both impeachments were "inappropriate."
"I would certainly be interested in it," Clyde said of exonerating Trump.
"The resolution last time was from the chairwoman of our conference," the Georgia Republican said. "That's a powerful position, and it's a good piece of legislation. I'll see if it comes forward."
Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon told the Times he was "definitely interested" in expunging the former president's two impeachments.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.