Bid to Remove Trump Impeachments From Record

Shelves filled with brown and red storage boxes for organizing documents

President Trump is pushing Congress to wipe his two first-term impeachments from the official record — a move with no precedent in American history and no clear path in the Constitution.

Story Snapshot

Trump and congressional allies are actively exploring a plan to expunge both of his first-term impeachments from the House record.
House Republicans, led by California’s Darrell Issa, are advancing a resolution to officially remove the impeachments as if they never happened.
No precedent exists for the House voting to expunge an impeachment, and the Constitution does not mention such a process.
Even if the House passed an expungement resolution, it would not undo the Senate trials or erase the broader historical record.

Trump Pushes to Erase First-Term Impeachments

President Trump is pressing his congressional allies to expunge his two first-term impeachments from the official House record. Trump was impeached on December 18, 2019, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and again on January 13, 2021, for incitement of insurrection. He was acquitted by the Senate both times. Trump has said publicly, “I did nothing wrong,” and views the impeachments as politically motivated attacks by Democrats.

House Republicans are now moving forward with a formal resolution. California Representative Darrell Issa is leading the effort in 2026. Earlier efforts were launched in June 2023 by Representatives Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Their resolutions called for expunging both impeachments “as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the full House of Representatives.” ^[1] Trump’s allies argue the impeachments were unconstitutional from the start and should be treated as void.

What Expungement Would — and Would Not — Do

Expungement, as described in the House resolutions, is a record-keeping concept. It would change the official House journal entry. But it would not reverse the Senate trials, remove the impeachments from history books, or carry any legal weight. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington points out that Trump faced no legal penalty from either impeachment, since he was acquitted both times. That group argues expungement would serve no legal purpose. ^[4]

There is also no rule in the House or the Constitution that allows for impeachment expungement. ^[2] The Constitution lays out a clear impeachment process — the House votes, the Senate holds a trial — but it says nothing about undoing those votes after the fact. Legal scholars note that a House resolution cannot reach back and cancel what the Senate already acted on. The Senate trials happened. Those records exist independently of whatever the House does next.

No Precedent, But Strong Political Motivation

No House in American history has ever voted to expunge a presidential impeachment. ^[2] That alone makes this push unusual. But the political motivation is easy to understand. Trump is now serving his second term, and his supporters have long argued that both impeachments were partisan weapons used to damage him. From their perspective, the record should reflect that he was acquitted — not that he was impeached. The expungement push is a way to make that argument official.

TRUMP IS TRYING TO REWRITE HISTORY AGAIN! He thinks he can just 'expunge' his two impeachments like they're a bad Yelp review. SORRY DONNY, THE INTERNET LIVES FOREVER AND SO DOES THE TRUTH! You were impeached twice. Deal with it! 🤡🔥 pic.twitter.com/CoAXXM3IrD

— Cats Against christoFascism (@catsagainstgop) June 13, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled support for the effort, and House Republicans appear ready to move. Whether it passes or not, the push sends a clear message to Trump’s base: the Republican Party views both impeachments as political hits, not legitimate uses of Congress’s constitutional power. For the millions of Americans who voted for Trump twice and watched Democrats use impeachment as a political tool, that message lands. The debate over whether expungement is legally meaningful may matter less than the statement it makes.