GOP lawmaker unveils historic move to ‘expunge’ both ‘maliciously false’ impeachments against Trump

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has introduced a resolution aimed at reversing the two impeachments of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives in a move he says will rectify a situation where Democrats used “knowingly false” claims in a partisan attempt to destroy the president’s reputation. 

The resolution, H.Res.1211, referred to the House Judiciary Committee, declares that both of Trump’s impeachments, approved by the House in 2019 and 2021, should be formally “expunged as if such Article had never passed the full House of Representatives.”

“The fact is that the Constitution doesn’t spell out what to do when you’ve wrongfully indicted somebody,” Issa told Fox News Digital. “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.”

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“More importantly,” Issa explained, is that he hopes his process will “make sure that the facts and the reality that there was misconduct in the process gets a hearing” because that’s “really where this becomes a big deal is that we really have to make our case in front of Congress and in front of the American people.” 

The resolution makes the case that the 2019 impeachment was based on unreliable and politically biased information, pointing to newly declassified material that it says undermines the credibility of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint triggered the inquiry. 

It contends the whistleblower lacked firsthand knowledge, was assisted by other officials with alleged political bias, and that House investigators mishandled or misrepresented evidence while denying Trump the opportunity to confront his accusers.

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In a press release earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the declassification of documents she says revealed a “coordinated effort” within the intelligence community “to manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump in 2019.”

Issa says the Democrats “broke every House rule” in their impeachment quests, and a source close to Issa’s office told Fox News Digital that prominent Democrats have admitted in private that information revealed since the impeachments “reflects so poorly on the House” and “represents an example of what’s gone wrong in the Capitol and in Washington.”

The resolution argues that the 2021 impeachment was rushed and procedurally flawed, noting that the House moved from introduction to passage in two days and did not conduct a full evidentiary process. While lawmakers held a brief committee hearing with constitutional experts, the measure advanced without fact witnesses or extended investigation, which the resolution says denied Trump basic due process.

“They impeached him for essentially an insurrection, a true high crime, and it’s false,” Issa said.

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Previous attempts have been made to reverse the impeachments, including resolutions in 2022 and 2023, but never received hearings, markups or floor votes, and died at the end of the 118th Congress. 

Issa told Fox News Digital that the previous resolutions were not written as strongly as this one and “didn’t have what we have,” which is “the compelling case to say the misconduct of the accusation is now what we’re going to have on trial rather than the president because he was impeached with information that the very people who brought it knew was wrong.”

Additionally, Issa’s effort has the backing of one of the top Republicans in Congress, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. 

“Democrats weaponized impeachment against President Trump with politically motivated charges,” Jordan told Fox News Digital. “We applaud Chairman Issa for leading the fight to expunge this sham from the record.” 

The effort also has strong support from other House Republicans. A list of over 20 cosponsors includes: Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., Russell Fry, R-S.C., Mark Alford, R-Mo., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., David J. Taylor, R-Ohio, Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., Rick Allen, R-Ga., Rich McCormick, R-Ga., Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, Mary Miller, R-Ill., Mike Collins, R-Ga., Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., Tracey Mann, R-Kan., Tim Walberg, R-Mich., John Rose, R-Tenn., Joe Wilson, R-S.C., David Rouzer, R-N.C., Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., and Ronny Jackson, R-Texas.

Issa’s resolution reignites a constitutional argument about whether the House can retroactively nullify an impeachment it has already adopted. Supporters contend that because the Constitution gives the House the “sole Power of Impeachment,” it also has authority over its own records and can vote to expunge prior actions.

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Critics, including some legal scholars, argue that while the House can express disapproval or annotate its records, it cannot erase the historical fact of an impeachment or undo the constitutional process once it has occurred, making such efforts largely symbolic. 

“Our goal is to show that it’s false and it was maliciously false and, as a result, it should no longer stand as a legitimate accusation to then be played upon when people are saying, ‘No Kings,’” Issa said.

“When you’ve been falsely accused, whether it’s days, weeks, months or years later, somebody should be just as interested in printing that retraction on the front page as they were in putting the original charge on the front page,” Issa explained. “And that’s what we’re trying to achieve, is to have the legitimate retraction receive at least some semblance of the same attention as the false accusations did.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.