NEW: McCarthy Signals Support For Expunging Trump Impeachments

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has recently expressed support for the conservative-backed proposition to expunge the two impeachments of former President Trump from the historical record. This move underlines both the substantial influence Trump continues to wield over the Republican Party, even after more than two years since leaving office, and the pressure McCarthy is facing from his conservative peers.

Trump’s impeachments in 2019 and 2021 were unprecedented, marking the first time in U.S. history that a president had been twice impeached by the House. However, he was acquitted by the Senate on all charges in both cases.

The first impeachment, in late 2019, resulted from allegations that Trump had abused his power by threatening to withhold U.S. military aid to Ukraine, unless they launched an investigation into his political rivals. The second impeachment, in early 2021, was a consequence of Trump’s alleged “incitement of insurrection,” in response to his role in encouraging the riots on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

If the impeachments of former President Trump were expunged, it would mean that the official record would be amended to make it as though those impeachments never happened.

However, it’s important to note that expungement would not change the historical fact that the impeachments occurred. It would only alter the formal congressional record of them. The historical events themselves, and the public’s memory of them, cannot be changed.

McCarthy has argued that the first impeachment was not based on true facts and has conflated it with a separate investigation by the Justice Department into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Regarding the second impeachment, he has raised concerns about the lack of due process, arguing that it was conducted too swiftly in the week following the Capitol riot.

The California representative’s stance on Trump’s impeachments highlights a considerable shift in his position over time. Notably, following the Capitol attack, McCarthy initially claimed that Trump bore “responsibility” for the violence. However, when it became clear that the GOP was rallying behind Trump, McCarthy reversed his stance, visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida a few weeks later and subsequently orchestrating the expulsion of then-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from GOP leadership for her refusal to indulge Trump’s narratives about his election defeat.

McCarthy’s support for the expungement effort comes as Trump’s allies continue to seek ways to rewrite the narrative of his time in office. This is highlighted by McCarthy’s endorsement of proposals to expunge Trump’s impeachments, introduced by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is the fourth-ranking GOP leader. However, McCarthy has indicated no immediate plans to bring forward these proposals for House votes and has not yet discussed the matter with Trump​.

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to defend their decision to quickly impeach Trump a second time following the Capitol attack in 2021, arguing that the evidence was visible to the entire world as the then-defeated president rallied his supporters to Washington and encouraged them to march to the Capitol as Congress was certifying Biden’s election​.