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.”
As Trump’s popularity plummets, House Democratic target emerges in red Indiana
California voter ID ballot measure could be rare GOP statewide win
How the midterm elections will set Democrats up for 2028 success or failure
The Big Bad Guy Behind Unaffordable Housing Almost No One Names: Zoning Laws
Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race
WATCH: Mike Lee explodes on voting error that ‘keeps happening’ as huge number of noncitizens found on rolls
UMass Dartmouth football murder suspect overstayed tourist visa, received deferred action: federal sources
Pittsburgh doctor stabbed to death after intruder allegedly attacks him, wife as they slept: police
New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill calls on lieutenant governor to resign after sexual harassment investigation
FBI says source of its jobs portal breach still unknown as hackers allege employee data compromised
Mamdani-backed socialist arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest outside UN
Michigan nurse accused of breaking bones and bruising premature infant at children’s hospital
Xi can’t escape protesters’ cries at deafening dinner demonstration
College Basketball Coach-Turned ESPN Personality Dies at 47
Watch: Xi Descends Into Laughter as Trump Shows off ‘President Autopen’ Picture in Place of Joe Biden’s Portrait
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.”
As Trump’s popularity plummets, House Democratic target emerges in red Indiana
California voter ID ballot measure could be rare GOP statewide win
How the midterm elections will set Democrats up for 2028 success or failure
The Big Bad Guy Behind Unaffordable Housing Almost No One Names: Zoning Laws
Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race
WATCH: Mike Lee explodes on voting error that ‘keeps happening’ as huge number of noncitizens found on rolls
UMass Dartmouth football murder suspect overstayed tourist visa, received deferred action: federal sources
Pittsburgh doctor stabbed to death after intruder allegedly attacks him, wife as they slept: police
New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill calls on lieutenant governor to resign after sexual harassment investigation
FBI says source of its jobs portal breach still unknown as hackers allege employee data compromised
Mamdani-backed socialist arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest outside UN
Michigan nurse accused of breaking bones and bruising premature infant at children’s hospital
Xi can’t escape protesters’ cries at deafening dinner demonstration
College Basketball Coach-Turned ESPN Personality Dies at 47
Watch: Xi Descends Into Laughter as Trump Shows off ‘President Autopen’ Picture in Place of Joe Biden’s Portrait
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.”
