A viral Facebook video featuring clips of Donald Trump speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference and footage of Fox News host Tucker Carlson is accompanied by a caption that reads, “Nancy Pelosi set to resign from Congress as Trump files impeachment lawsuit against her.” The video has been viewed more than 13,000 times.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not resigning from Congress because Trump filed an impeachment lawsuit against her. In an email to The Dispatch Fact Check, Josh Huder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute, explained the two issues with this claim.
“Congress only uses the impeachment process to remove executive officials or judges from their positions,” Huder said. “It cannot be used to remove sitting members from Congress. A chamber can expel one of its members by a two-thirds vote. But a member of Congress cannot be impeached.”
The other issue, he added, is that presidents do not have the constitutional authority to remove a member of Congress: “Second, only members of Congress have the right to introduce impeachment or expulsion motions or resolutions. Neither current or former presidents have any right to make legislative motions.”
(A spokesperson for Pelosi did not respond to The Dispatch Fact Check’s request for comment.)
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