Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash announced Monday evening he is leaving the influential conservative House Freedom Caucus, just weeks after he attracted the ire of his colleagues by arguing in Twitter posts that President Trump had committed impeachable offenses, Fox News has learned.
Amash, speaking at a Freedom Caucus board meeting, insisted his departure was voluntary. Amash said he did not want to continue to be a “further distraction” for the caucus, which is chaired by North Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Meadows.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the Freedom Caucus, told Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” Monday evening that Meadows and Amash mutually came to the decision after several conversations.
Jordan said the Republican members of the group still consider Amash a friend, but that their disagreements were “sharp” and significant.
“Some of the president’s actions were inherently corrupt,” Amash, who said Trump had “engaged in impeachable conduct,” tweeted in May. “Other actions were corrupt — and therefore impeachable — because the president took them to serve his own interests.”
James Comey criminal trial over ’86 47′ post set for July 15
Georgia mayor fires entire police department after officers complain about his wife in dispute
Declassified Apollo mission UFO files challenge long-running Moon landing conspiracy theories
Human Remains Found Near Guthrie Home Create New Mystery, Fail to Solve Current One
Can’t Make It Up: Islamic Activist Behind ‘Muslims Only’ Waterpark Day Also Runs ‘Learing’ Center of Her Very Own
Leftist streamer calls violent revolution ‘inevitable’ as Democrats explode over Virginia court decision
Top Dem applauds Trump UFO files release in rare show of support
Declassified Apollo moon docs describe unexplained mysteries, UFO lights ‘like the Fourth of July’
Breaking: Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats’ Gerrymander in Midterm Game Changer
WATCH: F-18s disable Iranian tankers trying to run Strait of Hormuz blockade
Gorsuch says ideological divides on Supreme Court come down to ‘how you read law,’ not politics
Accused Murderer of Iryna Zarutska Found Incompetent to Stand Trial by Federal Examiners
Breaking: Dept. of War Releases Long-Awaited UFO Files – Photos from the Moon, Apollo Mission Audio Included
Tim Walz Minnesota forcing teachers to abide by ‘horribly disgusting,’ ‘crazy’ race standard, says lawmaker
GOP candidate Bianco’s two-word jab at Katie Porter draws gasps from California debate audience
Amash also accused Attorney General Bill Barr of intentionally misrepresenting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report through lawyerly sleights of hand.
President Trump responded by writing that Amash was a “loser” and a “lightweight” seeking to gain national name recognition.
At a town hall in Grand Rapids, Mich., late last month, some of Amash’s constituents excoriated him for pushing for impeachment, while several others commended him for breaking ranks with his party and standing on principle.
“You talk about the Constitution and how important that is, but yet nothing that Mueller came out within this report, nothing that has been said about him and President Trump is constitutional — it’s been a smear tactic, because that’s how the Democrats work,” one Trump supporter told Amash.
“How can you become a Democrat when we voted for you as a Republican?” the attendee continued. “Because you’ve just drank the same Kool-Aid as all the Democrats.”
James Comey criminal trial over ’86 47′ post set for July 15
Georgia mayor fires entire police department after officers complain about his wife in dispute
Declassified Apollo mission UFO files challenge long-running Moon landing conspiracy theories
Human Remains Found Near Guthrie Home Create New Mystery, Fail to Solve Current One
Can’t Make It Up: Islamic Activist Behind ‘Muslims Only’ Waterpark Day Also Runs ‘Learing’ Center of Her Very Own
Leftist streamer calls violent revolution ‘inevitable’ as Democrats explode over Virginia court decision
Top Dem applauds Trump UFO files release in rare show of support
Declassified Apollo moon docs describe unexplained mysteries, UFO lights ‘like the Fourth of July’
Breaking: Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats’ Gerrymander in Midterm Game Changer
WATCH: F-18s disable Iranian tankers trying to run Strait of Hormuz blockade
Gorsuch says ideological divides on Supreme Court come down to ‘how you read law,’ not politics
Accused Murderer of Iryna Zarutska Found Incompetent to Stand Trial by Federal Examiners
Breaking: Dept. of War Releases Long-Awaited UFO Files – Photos from the Moon, Apollo Mission Audio Included
Tim Walz Minnesota forcing teachers to abide by ‘horribly disgusting,’ ‘crazy’ race standard, says lawmaker
GOP candidate Bianco’s two-word jab at Katie Porter draws gasps from California debate audience
Amash then defended his record in Congress, telling the town hall attendees he has “one of the most constitutionally conservative and fiscally conservative” voting records of all sitting lawmakers and that he’s at the top “of nearly all the scorecards” of conservative groups.
Amash had a high 88 rating from the American Conservative Union (ACU) in 2018, up from 78 in 2017. Jordan scored 100 for both years, while Meadows notched 91 and 100, respectively. The group’s Federal Legislative Ratings scores members of Congress based on how they vote in line with conservative principles. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., by contrast, had a 4 rating in 2018.
Another woman at the town hall, Anna Timmer, criticized Amash for “grandstanding” and trying to raise his “national profile,” while arguing that an impeachment inquiry would “tear this country apart.”
