‘The president should have never been impeached in the first place…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Republicans plan to expunge records of the House’s articles of impeachment against President Trump if they retake the House in November, according to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“This is the fastest, weakest, most political impeachment in history,” McCarthy told the New York Post. “I don’t think it should stay on the books.”
Trump has been officially acquitted, but McCarthy said the GOP wants to do all it can to exonerate him completely.
Officially removing the records of the Democrats’ impeachment efforts would also undermine House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s warning that “impeachment will last forever,” McCarthy explained.
Trump echoed McCarthy’s comments during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, and teased the possibility of retribution.
“As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump said. “They have done everything possible to destroy us and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation. They know what they are doing is wrong, but they put themselves far ahead of our great country … When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks. I do my best.”
McCarthy suggested turning the investigations around on the Democrats if the GOP takes the majority later this year.
“There’s still an 18th transcript that was never released about the inspector general. It’s interesting to know, in there there was 179 pages, did Adam Schiff know the whistleblower?” McCarthy asked. “Did he meet with the whistleblower? I think a lot of questions are raised about whether that individual, Adam Schiff, was a fact witness.”
Other Republicans have backed the notion of expunging Trump’s impeachment from Congress’s record, citing the 1837 precedent when the House voted to expunge record of President Andrew Jackson’s censure.
“I think there would be a groundswell of support” for expungement legislation, said Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, agreed and said expungement is “a good idea” since “the president should have never been impeached in the first place.”