Trump, allies working on plan to pass resolution to scrub impeachments, reports say – Spectrum News
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The White House on Friday commended reported efforts aimed at voiding President Donald Trump’s first-term impeachments.
“Trump-deranged Democrats have spent years launching phony attacks against the President and weaponizing the government against him,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Spectrum News. “It’s no surprise that sane individuals are recognizing these sham efforts and are interested in undoing those shameful actions.”
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump and his allies have discussed pushing Congress to pass a resolution seeking to nullify his two impeachments from his first term in office, citing people familiar with the matter.
Trump was first impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over allegations he withheld security aid to coerce Ukraine into investigating then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. In 2021, the House voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
The Senate acquitted Trump both times.
A resolution to void Trump’s two previous impeachments would likely be symbolic as constitutional scholars largely contend that impeachments cannot be expunged, but Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who served as part of Trump’s defense team in his first impeachment trial in the upper chamber, told The Wall Street Journal that the legality is unclear.
Meanwhile, Trump told the news outlet that he supported the effort, saying, “It should be done because I did nothing wrong.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Spectrum News on Friday, but the Louisiana lawmaker told the WSJ, “I think it makes a lot of sense the more the evidence comes out, the more we know they really were sham impeachments.”
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who served as the lead House manager in Trump’s first impeachment, responded to The Wall Street Journal article on X, writing: "There is no expunging the stain of Trump’s two impeachments."
The prospective resolution would not likely be considered until after the November midterms, the WSJ reported.
Political analysts have pointed out that otherwise such a measure would dredge up the details of the prior impeachment proceedings at a time when the GOP is looking to hold onto its majority this election cycle.
Historically, the political party that wins the presidency loses seats in the subsequent midterm elections. Democrats would only need to gain a few seats later this year to gain control of the House of Representatives, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speculated earlier this year that his party would also win the majority of seats in the Senate.
Gaining control in Congress would give Democrats broader investigatory powers to conduct oversight on the executive branch.
Conservative commentator Mark Levin alleged Thursday that Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was “leading a plot” to impeach Trump if Democrats won the majority and called for the lawmaker to be expelled from office, prompting Trump to criticize Raskin in a social media post. A request for comment made to Raskin’s office was not immediately returned.
Efforts to expunge Trump’s impeachments have been floated in the past. In 2023, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R- N.Y., proposed a resolution, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., introduced his own measure in April.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said Friday on social media she planned to put forth her own resolution. A request made to her office for more clarity about the meaning of her X message was not immediately returned.
Spectrum News’ Ryan Chatelain contributed to this reporting.
