US Speaker denies promising Trump measure to expunge impeachments

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Jul 2023 00:13

Republicans are rallying to counter a series of criminal charges facing Trump in the hopes of recovering the damage caused to his reputation.

US Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., leaves a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP)

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Thursday that he made no promise whatsoever to former President Donald Trump that he would pass a law aimed at expunging Trump's two impeachments.

"There's no deal," he told NBC following a report by the Politico news outlet that claimed he had made such a deal with Trump.

Trump, the current frontrunner for the GOP in next year's presidential elections, is set to face two separate indictments over his attempt to overturn the 2020 elections.

Republicans are rallying to counter a series of criminal charges framing Trump in the hopes of recovering the damage caused to his reputation.

Moreover, House Republican Elise Stefanik and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced in June a bill aimed at expunging Trump from two impeachments, one from 2019 and one from 2021. Although both impeachments were passed under the then-Democratic-controlled House, Senate Republicans voted in each case to acquit him.

Despite there being no measure to expunge an impeachment, Greene said this would not stop her from backing the bill.

"We're lawmakers. We can do things that haven't been done before, and this one certainly needs to be done," Greene told reporters, noting that Trump's impeachments were "an embarrassment, a stain on our history, and they shouldn't have happened."

The more Trump controversies pile up, the more challenging congressional elections will get in the upcoming November 2024 elections.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the proposed bill is "a disgrace."

The upcoming presidential elections promise to be highly intense as both President Joe Biden and Trump are likely to face a potential rematch.

Earlier today, a report by Bloomberg revealed, citing results from a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, that the next presidential elections could present a third-party candidate that is likely to impact this rematch.

According to the poll results, nearly half of eligible voters, namely 47% of polled individuals, said they would consider voting for a third-party candidate for the next presidential elections.

In the Democratic nomination, Biden is not facing major competition. Neither is Trump who is currently standing as the GOP frontrunner.

But the prospects of a third party are fueling speculation that Biden may face some serious challenges ahead of the elections as voters who dislike both Trump and Biden tend to be Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents.