A vote to 'expunge' Trump impeachments could be 'poisonous' to vulnerable Republicans in Biden districts

20 July 2023

Donald Trump was the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice — first in response to his attempt to bully Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into helping him dig up dirt on now-President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, then because of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Three U.S. presidents faced articles of impeachment before Trump (Republican Richard Nixon and Democrats Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson), but only Trump was impeached a second time.

Trump, however, was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in both of his impeachment trials. And in June, two of his allies in the U.S. House of Representatives — House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-New York) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) — proposed that his two impeachments be "expunged."

That proposal hasn't gone away. Journalist Rachel Bade, reporting for Politico in an article published on July 20, notes that "several moderate House Republicans" are "loath to revisit Trump's impeachments, especially the charges stemming from the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol." But they "won't have a choice," according to Bade, if House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) pursues the matter in order to stay in Trump's good graces.

McCarthy, according to Bade, reportedly considered expungement as a way of smoothing things over after Trump and his loyalists became furious over some comments McCarthy made during a June 27 appearance on CNBC. The House speaker didn't say anything really derogatory during that interview, but Trump's loyalists were angry because he dared to suggest that anyone other than Trump could be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

McCarthy told CNBC, "Can he win that election? Yeah, he can win that election. The question is: Is he the strongest to win the election?' I don't know that answer."

That wasn't exactly scathing criticism. McCarthy was merely suggesting that perhaps Republicans should weigh their options and consider Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or another candidate as a possible nominee. Regardless, the House speaker went into damage-control mode and apologized to Trump.

"To calm Trump," Bade explains, "McCarthy made him a promise, according to a source close to Trump and familiar with the conversation: The House would vote to expunge the two impeachments against the former president. And — as McCarthy would communicate through aides later that same day — they would do so before August recess."

Bade continues, "That vow — made reflexively to save his own skin — may have bought McCarthy some time, staving off a public war with the man who almost single-handedly rehabilitated his entire career and ensured he won the gavel in January. But it has also put McCarthy in a bind — and Trumpworld plans to hold him to his promise."

The Politico reporter notes that "moderate" House Republicans have "pushed back" and fear that "any expungement vote would be poisonous to the reelections of members in Biden-won districts."

"Given the speaker's tenuous position with Trump allies in the House and the threat of his ouster looming over every move," Bade reports, "McCarthy has no real option but to bow to the former president's whims — even if it means putting vulnerable frontliners in a precarious political position. The speaker has denied that he made such a promise to Trump at all, according to one Hill aide. From McCarthy's point of view, he merely indicated that he would discuss the matter with his members — putting him and Trump on a collision course."

Politico's full report is available at this link.

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