Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) called for Donald Trump’s impeachment after reading the full unredacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller regarding Russia’s involvement with the 2016 U.S. elections. Amash is the first Republican congressman to support impeachment.
In a series of tweets sent Saturday afternoon, Amash, who is no stranger to calling out Trump’s foolishness, wrote, among other things: “Few members of Congress even read Mueller’s report; their minds were made up based on partisan affiliation—and it showed, with representatives and senators from both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page report’s conclusions within just hours of its release ... America’s institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it.”
Amash believes that had more of his colleagues actually read the Mueller report, they would have come to similar conclusions. Attorney General William Barr, according to Amash, “deliberately misrepresented” the report, and “Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct,” among other things.
Amash’s general sensibility shows his willingness to move beyond words and into much-needed action. “I’m not here to represent a particular political party; I’m here to represent all of my constituents and to follow the Constitution,” Amash told the Huffington Post back in 2016.
Outpourings of praise for Amash’s tweets flooded social media, including from fellow Michigan Congresswoman and all-around badass Rashida Tlaib who commended the Congressman for “putting country first.” The GOP lawmaker also criticized the partisanship in Congress, saying that it has “eroded our system of checks and balances.”
President Donald Trump responded to Amash on Sunday with childish tweets belittling Amash as a “lightweight” and “a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents’ hands.” In his tweets, Trump continued his habit of lying when he falsely claimed the Mueller report exonerated him of obstruction of justice.
In fact, Mueller’s report gave multiple instances of potential obstruction.