FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are seeking to formally expunge the impeachments of former President Donald Trump, Fox News Digital has learned.
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., introduced resolutions Thursday to expunge Trump’s first impeachment from December 2019 and his second from January 2021. Those resolutions would expunge what the lawmakers are calling ‘unconstitutional’ impeachments and make it legally as if the articles ‘had never passed the full House of Representatives.’
‘The American people know Democrats weaponized the power of impeachment against President Donald Trump to advance their own extreme political agenda,’ Stefanik told Fox News Digital.
Reflecting on the ‘sham’ process, Stefanik said she ‘stood up against Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff’s blatant attempt to shred the Constitution as House Democrats ignored the Constitution and failed to follow the legislative process.’
‘President Donald Trump was rightfully acquitted, and it is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country,’ she said.
Stefanik’s resolution focuses on Trump’s January 2021 impeachment, and says that the ‘facts and circumstances’ of that action did not meet the burden of proving Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and did not establish that Trump engaged in ‘insurrection of rebellion against the United States.’
Stefanik also highlighted the ‘various issues surrounding the impeachment processes’ related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, including ‘the omission of discussion of circumstances and unusual voting patterns leading up to the 2021 Presidential election, the lack of consideration for the vote numbers and breakdowns, the whimsical changing of the legislative process for impeachment, and much more.’
The House of Representatives drafted articles of impeachment against Trump and ultimately voted to impeach him on a charge of inciting an insurrection for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The Senate voted to acquit Trump both times he was impeached. Had Trump been convicted, the Senate would have moved to bar the 45th president from holding federal office ever again, preventing a 2024 White House run.
Greene’s resolution would expunge Trump’s first impeachment in December 2019.
In 2019, Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine —specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have Ukraininan prosecutor Viktor Shokin ousted while serving as vice president.
Greene says the impeachment against Trump was a ‘sham’ because information revealed in an FD-1023 FBI document indicates that the Bidens were trying to influence policy in Ukraine.
‘The first impeachment of President Trump was a politically motivated sham,’ Greene said. ‘The Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, weaponized a perfect phone call with Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 election.’
Trump’s request was regarded by Democrats as a quid pro quo for millions in U.S. military aid to Ukraine that had been frozen. Democrats also claimed Trump was meddling in the 2020 presidential election by asking a foreign leader to look into a Democratic political opponent.
Trump was later impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, all stemming from the phone call and the question about the Bidens’ dealings. The Senate voted for acquittal in February 2020.
But Greene on Thursday pointed to the FBI’s ‘credible evidence of Joe and Hunter Biden’s corrupt dealings, confirming their involvement in a foreign bribery pay-to-play scheme and receipt of over $5 million each. All of this information was revealed to Congress by the FD-1023 form from the FBI’s most credible informant.’
Greene was referring to the FBI-generated FD-1023 form. The form, dated June 30, 2020, reflects the FBI’s interview with a ‘highly credible’ confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top executive of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings over the course of several years, starting in 2015.
The document shows the Burisma executive explained to the confidential source that Burisma had to ‘pay the Bidens’ because Shokin was investigating Burisma, and explained how difficult it would be to enter the U.S. market in the midst of that investigation.
Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the confidential human source believes that the $5 million payment to Joe Biden and the $5 million payment to Hunter Biden occurred, based on his or her conversations with the Burisma executive.
‘The form vindicates President Trump and exposes the crimes of the Biden family,’ Greene said. ‘It’s clear that President Trump’s impeachment was a nothing more than a witch hunt that needs to be expunged from our history.’
She added, ‘I’m proud to work with Chairwoman Elise Stefanik on our joint resolutions to correct the record and clear President Trump’s good name.’
Brooke Singman is a Fox News Digital politics reporter. You can reach her at Brooke.Singman@Fox.com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
