A Stunning Reversal May Be Coming

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President Trump is pushing Congress to wipe his two impeachments from the official record — a move with no clear legal path but strong political backing from House Republicans.

Story Snapshot

Trump and his allies are actively working to have both first-term impeachments officially expunged from the House record.
House Republicans, including California’s Darrell Issa, are advancing a resolution to make the expungement happen.
No constitutional rule or House procedure currently allows impeachment expungement — there is no known precedent for it.
Even if the House votes to expunge, experts say it would not erase the Senate trials or the broader historical record.

Trump Pushes Allies to Erase Impeachment Record

President Trump and his congressional allies are exploring a plan to expunge his two first-term impeachments from the official House record. Trump has been vocal about his position, saying he did nothing wrong. The push gained fresh momentum in April 2026, when Trump and his allies renewed efforts to move the idea forward. House Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled support for the effort, adding weight to what was once seen as a long-shot idea.

California Representative Darrell Issa is leading a House resolution to formally expunge both impeachments. The resolution would declare the impeachments removed from the record “as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the full House of Representatives.” The effort builds on earlier resolutions introduced in June 2023 by Representatives Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who argued both impeachments were unconstitutional from the start.

What the Expungement Would — and Would Not — Do

Supporters frame expungement as a way to correct what they call a political abuse of the impeachment process. Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times. His legal team argued during the second impeachment that his speech was protected by the First Amendment. For many conservatives, the impeachments looked less like legitimate oversight and more like a partisan effort to damage a political opponent. Clearing the record would send a clear message that Congress agrees.

Critics point out that expungement is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution or the House Rules. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington notes that Trump’s impeachments caused no legal harm, since he was acquitted both times. The group argues expungement would serve no legal purpose. More importantly, a House vote to expunge would not undo the Senate trials or remove the proceedings from the broader historical record — those events happened and cannot be legislated away.

No Precedent, but Strong Political Will

There is no prior case of the House voting to expunge a presidential impeachment. The Constitution lays out how impeachment works but says nothing about reversing one after the fact. That gap leaves the door open for Congress to act — but it also means no one knows exactly what such a vote would accomplish legally. The move would almost certainly face legal challenges and fierce opposition from Democrats.

For Trump’s supporters, the legal debate may matter less than the political statement. Both impeachments came without a single Republican Senate vote to convict. Many conservatives viewed the proceedings as a weaponization of Congress against a sitting president. Expunging the record would be largely symbolic, but symbols carry weight. If House Republicans have the votes, expect them to move quickly — and expect Democrats to fight it just as hard as they fought to impeach him in the first place.