Republicans are reportedly plotting a way to expunge Donald Trump’s impeachment should they regain control of the House of Representatives in 2020.

The idea comes on the heels of a months long process that Democrats began last year in the House, and has now led to the acquittal of Mr Trump after he became the third president to be impeached in US history.

Now, though, after being taunted by House speaker Nancy Pelosi that “impeachment lasts forever”, it appears that minority leader Kevin McCarthy wants to rewrite history should he take the gavel from the Democratic leader.

“This is the fastest, weakest, most political impeachment in history,” he told the New York Post, echoing a talking point he and other Republicans have used previously nearly word-for-word.

He continued: “I don’t think it should stay on the books.”

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

The comments came just before the Senate voted to acquit Mr Trump on both articles of impeachment he faced, with just one senator breaking ranks during the vote, Mitt Romney.

It is not clear that expunging Mr Trump’s impeachment will have much impact, according to constitutional law experts. While there may be some precedent — Republicans have noted that the House voted to expunge the censure of Andrew Jackson in 1837 — experts say any effort on that front would be largely symbolic.

“There’s nothing in the Constitution that provides for a procedure of expungement,” James Gardner, a law professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, told The Independent.

“It would be of no significance. Certainly of no legal significance,” Mr Gardner said. “It might be of political significance.”

In an email, lawyer Jonathan Turley — the lone impeachment witness called by Republicans during the House trial last year — said a future expungement can only go so far.

"Expungement is more cathartic than constitutional. The President was impeached the minute a majority voted on Article I," he said. "Resurrection is a biblical not a constitutional concept. The House can express the view of that House as to the basis for impeachment, nothing more. It will create a record of its own but not alter the record of the prior Congress. "

Should the president’s record be expunged during the next Congress, it would likely mean that he also won re-election in the coming November elections.