No, Rudy Giuliani didn’t file for Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment

Amid ongoing speculation over whether U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will support an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, a recent Facebook post claims the tables have turned.

Below a photo of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now Trump’s attorney, is what looks like a headline: "Giuliani files impeachment papers for Pelosi on behalf of the White House." Above the photo are these words: "Wow, Giuliani filed for her impeachment, but also filed the first Public Formal Charge of TREASON. Wow, it is quite literally, HAPPENING…"

This post was published on Facebook June 20 and appears to be a screengrab of a tweet by the apparently defunct Twitter account, @Robert_QSentMe. It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

We found no evidence Giuliani filed for Pelosi’s impeachment and unfortunately for the nearly 200,000 people who signed a petition to the White House to impeach Pelosi, the Constitution "gives the House of Representatives the sole power to impeach an official, and it makes the Senate the sole court," according to a history of impeachment on the House website. 

The Constitution says that the president, vice president and civil officers of the United States "shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." 

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Individual House members can introduce impeachment resolutions like bills, or the House could initiate proceedings by passing a resolution that authorizes an impeachment inquiry. Of more than 60 impeachment proceedings, less than a third have led to full impeachments and just eight people have been convicted and removed from office by the Senate, according to Congressional impeachment history. (Those eight people were all federal judges.)

Two presidents — Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton — have also been impeached. A list of all 19 people impeached by the House, and the result of those proceedings, is available here. 

It appears the origin of the Facebook post is this March 18 story on Bustatroll.org, which features the same photo and headline. The first line of that story reads, "Rudy Giuliani walked into the 1st Circuit Court of Writs today and filed Articles of Impeachment for Nancy Pelosi." And when you click on the hyperlink the site provides for the words, "1st Circuit Court of Writs," it takes you to a Google Translate page that states basically everything we know to be true about this story: "Nope. No such thing." 

That’s because Bustatroll.org is a subsidiary of ‘America’s Last Line of Defense," a satirical publication. 

We rate this Facebook post Pants on Fire!