Trump Plots to "Expunge" Both Impeachments from the Record — Constitutional Scholars: "You Cannot Un-Ring a Bell"

The Wall Street Journal reported on June 11, 2026, that President Trump and his allies are quietly working to pass a House resolution that would formally expunge both of his impeachments from the congressional record — as if they never happened. Constitutional law scholars had a message: that is not how any of this works.

What Trump wants

Trump told the Journal:

"It should be done because I did nothing wrong. It was a rigged deal — it was a whole rigged situation."

He wants a congressional resolution declaring both impeachments void — making it "as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the full House of Representatives."

A reminder of what he was impeached for:

First impeachment — December 18, 2019

• Abuse of power: Withheld $391 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine to pressure President Zelensky into announcing an investigation of Joe Biden
• Obstruction of Congress: Directed the entire executive branch to defy congressional subpoenas
• Acquitted by Senate Republicans, 52-48 and 53-47

Second impeachment — January 13, 2021

• Incitement of insurrection: Rallied a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, beat police officers, and disrupted the certification of the 2020 election
• Acquitted by Senate Republicans, 57-43 — though seven Republicans voted to convict, the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history

Trump is the only president in American history to be impeached twice. He would like that not to be true.

The resolutions

Multiple Republicans have introduced or announced expungement resolutions:

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced H.Res. 1211 in April 2026
• Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) announced on social media she would introduce her own resolution
• Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced expungement resolutions in 2023 — neither was adopted

Speaker Mike Johnson told the Journal: "I think it makes a lot of sense the more the evidence comes out, the more we know they really were sham impeachments."

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson: "It's no surprise that sane individuals are recognizing these sham efforts and are interested in undoing those shameful actions."

What the Constitution says

Nothing. The Constitution provides no mechanism to expunge, reverse, or undo an impeachment. Constitutional scholars are unequivocal:

James Sample, Hofstra University law professor:

"You cannot un-ring a bell."

Jonathan Turley, Georgetown University law professor:

"It is not like a constitutional DUI. Once you are impeached, you are impeached."

James Gardner, SUNY Buffalo law professor: "There's nothing in the Constitution that provides for a procedure of expungement." Any such effort "would be of no significance — certainly of no legal significance."

Even Alan Dershowitz — who served on Trump's first impeachment defense team — told the Journal the legality remains "unclear."

NBC's Garrett Haake: "You can't functionally remove an impeachment that was voted on, that went to a trial, that was done."

The Democratic response

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who served as lead House manager in the first impeachment:

"There is no expunging the stain of Trump's two impeachments."

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD):

"There is a very easy way to not get impeached: stop committing impeachable offenses."

The political problem

Several Republican lawmakers privately told the Journal that the resolution would not be considered until after the November midterms — and that it may be difficult to secure the votes even then. The reason is obvious: passing an expungement resolution requires Republicans to publicly defend:

• Withholding military aid to Ukraine to dig up dirt on a political opponent
• Directing the executive branch to obstruct a congressional investigation
• The events of January 6, 2021

Democrats need only a few seats to flip the House in November. The president's party historically loses seats in midterms. Trump's approval is at 34%. And Republicans want to spend the campaign explaining why the president's double impeachment should be erased from the record.

Senate Minority Leader Schumer has speculated that Democrats could win the Senate majority as well. If Democrats take the House, expungement is dead — and a third impeachment becomes possible.

The precedent they cite

Republicans point to one precedent: in 1837, the Senate voted to expunge a censure of President Andrew Jackson. But a censure is not an impeachment. An impeachment is a constitutional process with a trial, witnesses, evidence, and a vote. It is, as Turley put it, not a DUI you can get expunged from your record.

Why now

Trump is pushing this while simultaneously:

• Holding a cage fight on the White House lawn where fighters are paid in his family's crypto
• Waging a war in Iran that Congress voted to end and he refuses to stop
• Sitting at 34% approval — the lowest of either term
• Having his name pried off the Kennedy Center by court order
• Facing a criminal investigation by three inspectors general into the Iran war

He was impeached for abusing his power to pressure a foreign country and for inciting an attack on Congress. He is currently abusing his power to wage an unauthorized war and threatening members of Congress who oppose him. The bell has been rung. It cannot be un-rung. But the man who rang it is still ringing.