Republican compares Trump impeachment to extermination of Native Americans

WASHINGTON — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) compared Donald Trump's two impeachments to some of the greatest atrocities in American history Wednesday.

Speaking to Raw Story at the U.S. Capitol, Issa said that the impeachments were "wrong" and they should be made right – in the same way that the nation should have apologized for the extermination of Native Americans and the interment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Talking about the push to erase the impeachment, spearheaded by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, he went on to falsely claim, "There is a track record of expunging impeachment, so it wouldn't be inconsistent."

Only three presidents in history were impeached: Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. None of them were convicted, but none of the impeachments have been expunged. Issa didn't give examples.

Greene told Raw Story that she's pushing forward with the attempt to expunge an impeachment involving a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump attempted to solicit a bribe. Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is seeking to expunge Donald Trump's impeachment for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and the alleged attempts to overthrow the 2020 election. The latter issue may ultimately result in further indictment by the Justice Department.

Issa said, "Why should we apologize for imprisoning the Japanese during World War II? Because it was wrong and we want to make sure it's said. Why do we deal with what we did to Native Americans? Because it was wrong. Why are we looking at Medal of Honor candidates from decades ago? Because they were overlooked."

"It's never too late to right a wrong."

While there aren't exact figures, it is estimated that "European settlers killed 56 million indigenous people over about 100 years in South, Central and North America."

During the Japanese internment, 125,284 people were registered to be imprisoned because they were considered a threat to the security of the U.S. Of them 1,862 people died due to medical issues.

In a conversation with Newsweek, Georgetown University Professor Joshua Chafetz explained, "an impeachment cannot be expunged because it has effect outside of the House."

The House passes the impeachment, and the trial is in the Senate. While the House might vote to expunge the impeachment vote, it wouldn't remove the impeachment trial in the Senate unless there were 60 votes supporting it.

Even George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley, known for aiding the Republicans during the impeachment, told Reuters, "It is not like a constitutional DUI. Once you are impeached, you are impeached."

When asked about the expungement, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told Raw Story there are important challenges that the country is facing, and implied rewriting Trump's record isn't one of them.

"Focusing on things that make no difference — suggesting that Logan Roy had a point, 'These are not smart people,'" Romney said, quoting the fictional character from "Succession," based on News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch.

"It's a classic Trump move," he continued. "There's nothing unusual about it. You ain't seen nothin' yet. There's no bottom to this pond."