Photo: Alamy
A conservative-led push to expunge former President Trump for his two impeachments was introduced earlier this year and is now circulating again as a reminder to Speaker Kevin McCarthy of his support for the bill.
Reps. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., introduced resolutions in June that would expunge both of Trump’s impeachments.
Following the announcement of the bill, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., threw his support behind the effort stating that the former president’s behavior did not warrant the punishment given.
“I think it is appropriate, just as I thought before, that you should expunge it because it never should have gone through,” McCarthy told reporters back in June.
Briefly after lending his support for the bill, however, the Speaker became coy about siding with Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. McCarthy stated that he did not know if the former president was the “strongest” Republican candidate to take on President Biden in the race.
“Can Trump beat Biden? Yeah, he can beat Biden,” McCarthy told reporters. “Is he the strongest to win the election? I don’t know that answer.”
After McCarthy lent his support to expunge Trump but did not fully back him as the GOP presidential nominee, Politico reported that Trump was allegedly upset. The outlet then reported that the speaker allegedly made a deal with the former president instead, stating that he would “promise” to push voting on the bill, specifically before the August recess.
However, McCarthy later came forward and denied any deal with the former President on pushing the bill for his expungement forward. “There’s no deal,” McCarthy confirmed to NBC News.
The bill has currently not made any progress since being introduced in June and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. It has not been confirmed if or when the bill will move forward.