In a party with an epidemic of virtue signaling and hand-wringing, it had to happen. The first GOP representative has called for the impeachment of President Trump.
Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) defended his calls for President Donald Trump’s impeachment in a Twitter post this weekend, where he said he swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution, not an oath to do the bidding of one man or one political party.”
After he became the first GOP lawmaker last month to publicly declare that Trump had engaged in an impeachable offense, the Michigan congressman on Saturday defended his calls for the president to be held accountable for the findings in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report.
“I swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not an oath to do the bidding of one man or one political party,” Amash tweeted. “We have a constitutional republic to uphold liberty and the Rule of Law, not a direct democracy to serve some at the expense of others.”
He said, “Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.
“I offer these conclusions only after having read Mueller’s redacted report carefully and completely, having read or watched pertinent statements and testimony, and having discussed this matter with my staff, who thoroughly reviewed materials and provided me with further analysis.”
Meanwhile, Bill Weld from GOP says, he doesn’t think President Trump will give up the White House voluntarily if he loses the 2020 election. During an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” Friday, the former Massachusetts governor was asked if he thinks Trump will leave if he loses, and Weld said, “Not voluntarily.”
Weld then said of Trump: “He’ll have a run at saying, ‘It was a rigged game so I’m not leaving.’ I don’t think the military and indeed even the Justice Department — the rank-and-file, the investigative agencies — would stand for that in this country.” Trump himself has joked about remaining in office past the two-term limit mark on more than one occasion.
Several more prominent US Democrats have called for the impeachment of President Trump, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller made his first public remarks.
Speaking on Wednesday, May 29th, Mueller said his investigation had not exonerated Trump of obstruction of justice, contradicting the president’s claims. Mueller was tasked with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He said charging a sitting president with a crime was not an option.
The issue of impeachment has divided the Democratic Party, pitting a growing number of lawmakers against Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the house and the most senior Democrat. Pelosi has so far resisted the idea, arguing that it would be counter-productive.
But Mueller’s remarks prompted three leading Democratic presidential hopefuls to join the chorus calling for impeachment, bringing the total to 10 of 23 declared candidates.
At the White House on Thursday morning, Trump said Mueller was “a totally conflicted person” and a “true Never Trumper”, referring to his Republican critics in the 2016 White House race. He also said impeachment was a “dirty, filthy disgusting word” and the inquiry was “a giant presidential harassment”.
