Stefan
Justin Amash is a bit of a loner within the Republican Party. The Michigan Congressman is the only member of his party to have broken ranks and called for the impeachment of Donald Trump. He’s also brushed off Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s criticisms, saying McCarthy was “lying” and that “that’s typical Kevin.”
Amash first made his stance known last week, saying that it was his conclusion that Trump had “engaged in impeachable conduct.”
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.— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
Now, in a lengthy and unsparing Twitter thread, Amash has detailed all of the corruption that the Mueller report uncovered, explaining why it matters and is not the “complete exoneration” that Trump claims it to be.
Mueller’s report describes a consistent effort by the president to use his office to obstruct or otherwise corruptly impede the Russian election interference investigation because it put his interests at risk.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
He laid out the evidence for obstruction of justice, detailing Trump’s many attempts to meddle with the investigation.
Some examples in Mueller’s report of the president’s obstructing and impeding the investigation include:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
1. Trump asked the FBI director to stop investigating Michael Flynn, who had been his campaign adviser and national security adviser, and who had already committed a crime by lying to the FBI.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
2. After AG Sessions recused himself from the Russian investigation on the advice of DoJ ethics lawyers, Trump directly asked Sessions to reverse his recusal so that he could retain control over the investigation and help the president.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
3. Trump directed the White House counsel, Don McGahn, to have Special Counsel Mueller removed on the basis of pretextual conflicts of interest that Trump’s advisers had already told him were “ridiculous” and could not justify removing the special counsel.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
4. When that event was publicly reported, Trump asked that McGahn make a public statement and create a false internal record stating that Trump had not asked him to fire the special counsel, and suggested that McGahn would be fired if he did not comply.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
5. Trump asked Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, to tell AG Sessions to limit the special counsel’s investigation only to future election interference. Trump said Lewandowski should tell Sessions he was fired if he would not meet with him.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
6. Trump used his pardon power to influence his associates, including Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, not to fully cooperate with the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
As the only Republican Congressman to have called for impeachment Amash did not shy away from the “I” word in his analysis.
Some of the president’s actions were inherently corrupt. Other actions were corrupt—and therefore impeachable—because the president took them to serve his own interests.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
The president has authority to fire federal officials, direct his subordinates, and grant pardons, but he cannot do so for corrupt purposes; otherwise, he would always be allowed to shut down any investigation into himself or his associates, which would put him above the law.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
In case you thought Amash’s fellow Republicans would take his defection well, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already called his call for impeachment “disturbing.”
Meanwhile, Trump himself has slammed Amash as a “loser” and a “total lightweight” because our president is half wannabe mobster and half high school mean girl.
Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy. If he actually read the biased Mueller Report, “composed” by 18 Angry Dems who hated Trump,….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
….he would see that it was nevertheless strong on NO COLLUSION and, ultimately, NO OBSTRUCTION…Anyway, how do you Obstruct when there is no crime and, in fact, the crimes were committed by the other side? Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019