CNN
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In a private call with former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he personally supports the idea of removing two of Trump’s impeachments and will bring it to the conference to gauge support, a source said. He did not promise to bring it to the floor, the source added.
McCarthy, a California Republican, has been working overtime to try and placate Trump after an interview last month, in which McCarthy said he thought the former president could win in 2024, but didn’t know if he was the “strongest” candidate, prompting anger among Trump advisers and allies. The apparent transgression of the speaker has once again raised questions from Trump and his inner circle as to why he has not yet endorsed the former president in his 2024 presidential bid.
McCarthy called Trump to apologize after the interview, claiming he had misspoken to CNBC, sources told CNN at the time. It’s unclear what, if any, other promises were made on the call.
Politico first reported McCarthy’s endorsement of Trump’s position, but McCarthy contradicted Politico’s report that he promised to hold the vote.
“No,” McCarthy told reporters Thursday when asked if he had promised to go ahead with the impeachment vote. When pressed on whether he would commit to not making a vote, he said it would have to “go through the committee like anything else.”
Several sources told CNN that calling a vote in the House to remove the two impeachments against the former president would be a fool’s errand, because the leadership does not have the votes to pass it. So even if McCarthy indicated to Trump that he would do it, it’s unlikely that the votes will be there – likely to further inflame tensions. In addition, it is unclear whether the removal of an impeachment is possible and has not been done before.
There is no clear procedural outcome to a resolution predicting the “erasure” of Trump’s impeachment, according to guidance from the House Parliamentarian’s office. Efforts discussed include a non-binding House resolution that expresses the meaning of the House, or “expresses the sentiments of a chamber.” Not only would that move not eliminate impeachment, the effort would also not undo the two votes cast in 2019 and 2020 that impeached the former president. Those votes are still in the Congressional Record.
Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill, including GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, pushed McCarthy to call a vote in the House to overturn both impeachments.
GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday that he would vote to remove Trump’s impeachment if McCarthy brought it to the floor but added that it would not be “wise” for the speaker to do so “in terms of the precedent it sets.”
“It’s probably smart for the Republican base. It’s not smart in terms of constitutional history,” Buck told “The Source,” adding that “the Senate was wiped out when they voted not to impeach.”
Hours after McCarthy’s CNBC interview last month and after he called on the former President to come clean about his remarks, Trump said “they better do it” when asked by a supporter at the opening of his campaign office in New Hampshire about the House of Representatives removing both of his impeachments.
“If McCarthy does his job, they’ll get rid of two of those bad impeachments,” said one supporter as Trump signed hats and mingled with voters in his new office in New Hampshire.
“I understand they’re working on that,” Trump said. “They better do it.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
