Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) lashed out at Republicans for “excusing” what he called President Trump’s “misbehavior” shortly before voting in favor of the House impeachment resolution.
“This president will be in power for only a short time, but excusing his misbehavior will forever tarnish your name. To my Republican colleagues: Step outside your media and social bubble. History will not look kindly on disingenuous, frivolous, and false defenses of this man,” Amash, an outspoken critic of Trump, tweeted about an hour ahead of the House vote laying out procedures for the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.
{mosads}Amash, who left the Republican Party in July after becoming the first GOP lawmaker to support an impeachment inquiry, joined 231 Democrats supporting the resolution, which establishes rules for open hearings and the questioning of witnesses by House committee members and staff.
The resolution passed in a 232-196 vote with no GOP support. Democratic Reps. Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Jefferson Van Drew (N.J.), who both represent districts won by Trump in 2016, voted against the measure.
The vote comes more than a month into an impeachment inquiry that stems in large part from a government whistleblower complaint that accused Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden over unfounded allegations of corruption.
Republicans have consistently decried the lack of public hearings in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Trump and his GOP allies have denied any allegations of wrongdoing in the president’s dealings with Ukraine, asserting instead that the inquiry is part of a Democratic effort to reverse the results of the 2016 presidential election.
“Don’t let President Trump or Republican officials distract you with a straw man,” Amash tweeted last month after Democrats launched the inquiry. “It’s about his continuing abuse of the office of the presidency.”
Amash first lent his support to an impeachment inquiry after the release of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference and possible obstruction of justice by the president. The congressman said at the time that Mueller’s probe identified “multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice.”
Amash said on CNN in July that “high-level” Republican officials had thanked him for speaking out about Trump and impeachment.
“There are lots of Republicans out there who are saying these things privately, but there not saying it publicly, and I think that’s a problem for our country,” he said at the time.