“I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
QUICK FACTS:
- Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was asked at a news conference about whether the House would seek an expungement of Donald Trump’s impeachments.
- “I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” McCarthy responded, adding that the House would “look into it.”
- McCarthy ensured that Republicans’ top priorities are to “get our economy back on track, secure our borders, make our streets safe again, give parents the opportunity to have a say in their [children’s] education, and actually hold government accountable.”
- Trump was impeached twice, once in 2019 and again following the January 6 riot.
- The 2019 impeachment regarded Trump’s obstruction of Congress after supposedly withholding military aid from Ukraine in order to have Ukraine President Zelensky investigate Biden as a political favor.
- Trump was acquitted of both impeachments.
REACTIONS TO POTENTIAL EXPUNGEMENT:
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington president Noah Bookbinder tweeted that the idea of an expungement is “outrageous.”
- A law professor for Georgia State University Anthony Michael Kreis tweeted that he is “not sure that’s how it works.”
- Republicans previously called for an expungement of Trump’s impeachments.
- Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin led a group of 30 Republicans in a resolution to expunge Trump’s impeachment for Jan. 6.
- Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) said in 2020 that Trump’s expungement should be “one of the very first orders of business” for the 2021 session of Congress.
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported that Trump’s impeachment trial of 2021 presented “no new information” in support of Trump’s charge of inciting an insurrection.
- Roughly 80% of congressional leaders in favor of impeaching Trump left Congress.
