Amash accuses Trump of selling military support to Saudi Arabia

Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), a vocal critic of President Trump, on Saturday accused the president of selling U.S. military support to Saudi Arabia.

Trump said in an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham the day before that he had pressured Riyadh to compensate the U.S. for a recent deployment to the Middle East. 

“We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia. I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank,” he said.

“He sells troops,” Amash tweeted in response.

He sells troops.

“We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia—I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1B in the bank.” pic.twitter.com/rc1f7heyCP

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 11, 2020

Amash has repeatedly angered House Republicans with his frequent criticism of Trump’s character and rhetoric, leading to his removal from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which he co-founded.

He later announced he would leave the GOP and become an Independent and separately said he supports impeaching Trump over his dealings with Ukraine, thought he has remains staunchly conservative on most policy issues.

The Michigan lawmaker has not ruled out a third-party challenge to Trump in the 2020 presidential race.

Amash’s broadsides have infuriated Trump, who has reportedly floated supporting a Republican opponent to try to unseat him and held a campaign rally in his district late last year.