Former Republican Rep. Justin Amash said Friday that he would vote for three articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
Amash made the comments to CNN following a week of hearings from the House Intelligence Committee and one hearing from the House Judiciary Committee.
“I think there’s sufficient evidence for all three,” Amash told the outlet while he was heading to the House floor. “Impeachment is like an indictment. We’re just issuing the charges. The trial happens in the Senate. There’s certainly probable cause to issue charges.”
Amash left the GOP after he supported impeaching Trump. He now identifies as an Independent. CNN is now touting his vote for impeachment because he does not have a “D” next to his name. The lede for the CNN article about Amash’s comments states (emphasis added):
Rep. Justin Amash said Friday that he is prepared to vote for three articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, ensuring that Democrats won’t be the only ones to impeach the President when the historic vote hits the floor as soon as this month.
A tweet for the article contained the same sentence.
Amash’s vote will allow Democrats to say they are not the only ones who support impeaching Trump, even though there is likely to be no Republican votes in favor of articles of impeachment. As multiple outlets reported, the only Republican who signaled he was unsure of how he would vote, Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), now says he believes there was “a rush to judgement” by Democrats. Rooney slammed Democrats for not compelling first-hand witnesses to testify even though they had been blocked by the White House.
Even worse for Democrats is that two of their own – Reps. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) – have signaled they will vote against impeachment, meaning there’s bipartisan opposition (however slight). Van Drew told CNN recently that he believes the impeachment proceedings are “tearing the country apart.”
Amash announced he was leaving the GOP on July 4th after writing an op-ed in The Washington Post criticizing the party system.
“The parties value winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost,” Amash wrote. “Instead of acting as an independent branch of government and serving as a check on the executive branch, congressional leaders of both parties expect the House and Senate to act in obedience or opposition to the president and their colleagues on a partisan basis.”
Amash had come under fire previously by conservatives for a tweet thread condemning Trump and saying the president “engaged in impeachable conduct” based on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. That report found that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia to steal the 2016 election and made no determination on whether Trump obstructed justice during the investigation into the false narrative.
After Amash’s tweet thread he voluntarily left the House Freedom Caucus, though at the time fellow caucus member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Amash was still a friend of the group.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Amash has been an Independent since he was elected, voting against some key conservative bills while backing others. He has been one of the few Republicans who actually votes to cut federal spending and supports gun rights and pro-life bills.