House Republicans have introduced a pair of resolutions seeking to expunge the impeachment votes against former President Donald Trump, removing the charges from his record as if they had never occurred.
Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced the resolutions on Thursday, with one measure aiming to remove Trump’s 2019 impeachment charges and the other seeking to absolve the charges from his 2021 impeachment. It’s not yet clear when the measures will be brought to the floor, a spokesperson for the GOP caucus told the Washington Examiner.
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"The American people know Democrats weaponized the power of impeachment against President Donald Trump to advance their own extreme political agenda," Stefanik said in a statement. "From the beginning of this sham process, I stood up against Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff’s blatant attempt to shred the Constitution as House Democrats ignored the Constitution and failed to follow the legislative process. President Donald Trump was rightfully acquitted, and it is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country."
Greene’s resolution would expunge the House vote to impeach Trump in 2019, which charged Trump with obstruction of justice and abuse of power over a phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden. Greene argued the impeachment charges wrongfully accused Trump of misconduct, claiming the circumstances did not “meet the burden of proving the commission of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Greene was not elected to Congress at the time of that impeachment vote. Yet, she has remained a staunch advocate of the former president amid his criminal investigations and federal indictments.
“The first impeachment of President Trump was a politically motivated sham. The Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, weaponized a perfect phone call with Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 election,” Greene said. “Meanwhile, the FBI had credible evidence of Joe and Hunter Biden's corrupt dealings, confirming their involvement in a foreign bribery pay-to-play scheme and receipt of over $5 million each. All of this information was revealed to Congress by the FD-1023 form from the FBI’s most credible informant.”
Stefanik’s resolution would then remove the charges from Trump’s second impeachment, which occurred in the days following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. During that vote, Trump was charged with incitement of insurrection, marking the first time in history a president has been impeached twice.
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Stefanik, the chairwoman of the GOP caucus, argued those articles of impeachment did not prove Trump had engaged in “insurrection of rebellion” or that his conduct amounted to a high crime or misdemeanor.
The resolutions come as Trump seeks reelection to the White House in 2024 with the support of several in the GOP caucus. The former president faces a crowded field of candidates vying for the nomination, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.