Trump asks Republicans to wipe impeachments from historical record

US President Donald Trump is urging Republicans in Congress to pass a resolution that would symbolically erase the two impeachments he faced during his first term in office.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a White House official, Trump and his allies want Congress to pass a measure that would effectively expunge the impeachments from the historical record.

Trump became the first US president to be impeached twice. The first impeachment, in 2019, accused him of abusing power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden.

The second followed the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, when lawmakers accused him of inciting an insurrection. He was acquitted by the Senate in both cases.

Legal experts say the US Constitution provides no mechanism to reverse an impeachment once it has taken place, meaning any resolution would carry symbolic rather than legal significance.

Democrats criticised the move, arguing it could revive damaging political controversies ahead of the midterm elections.

California Senator Adam Schiff, who led Trump’s first impeachment case, wrote: “There is no expunging the stain of Trump’s two impeachments.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the proposal, saying: “President Trump remains focused on one thing: doing what’s best for the American people.”