Kevin McCarthy on 'collision course' with Trump over promise to expunge his impeachments: report

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is reportedly feeling the heat from former President Donald Trump over an apparent promise he made to expunge Trump's two impeachments.

Politico's Playbook reports that McCarthy recently promised Trump he would expunge his impeachments as a way to mollify the former president's fury over the fact that McCarthy had still not endorsed him.

Although this promise seemed to calm Trump for a time, the former president's patience is running thin as it doesn't appear at the moment that votes on expunging his impeachments will happen before the August recess, as many Republicans from swing districts want no part this particular effort.

"Several moderate House Republicans are loath to revisit Trump’s impeachments — especially the charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol," Politico writes. "(In fact, though only 10 of their GOP colleagues voted with Democrats to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, several more wanted to but were too worried about threats to their offices and families to take the plunge.)"

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A spokesperson for McCarthy has denied that the speaker explicitly promised Trump the impeachments -- although that's apparently not how Trump interpreted things, which is why Politico writes that the two men are now on a "collision course."

In fact, even one Trump-backing lawmaker expressed skepticism that the expungement gambit would work.

“The problem is: If you have an expungement, and it goes to the floor and fails — which it probably will — then the media will treat it like it’s a third impeachment, and it will show disunity among Republican ranks," this member said. "It’s a huge strategic risk."