House Republicans Push to Erase Trump Impeachments from Official Record

House Republicans are pushing to erase the impeachments of former President Donald Trump from the official record. The effort, spearheaded by California Representative Darrell Issa, seeks to have Trump’s 2019 and 2021 impeachments “expunged as if such Articles had never passed the full House of Representatives.”

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Issa framed the move as a way to address reputational harm, stating:

“An impeachment is basically an indictment and it’s an indictment that you can’t really be acquitted from. If you are impeached by the House, famously, ‘Where do you go to get your reputation back?’ is the question. And that’s sort of a problem that we’re dealing with, which is that the president was wrongfully accused, the evidence is now out that there was withheld information and false information, but where do we go to unring this bell? And the answer is we go back to Congress and we go to the House floor and we have a vote.”

The claims of wrongful accusation are disputed by substantial evidence. The first impeachment in 2019 stemmed from Trump’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. A transcript confirmed Trump personally requested damaging information on Biden. The second impeachment in 2021 followed Trump’s role in inciting the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Despite these findings, House Republicans are moving forward with the symbolic expungement, even though both impeachments failed and Trump was subsequently reelected in 2024. Critics argue that the effort undermines historical accountability rather than addressing substantive concerns.