Donald Trump has, in so many ways, had it good. Since the release of the (still redacted) Mueller Report — which didn’t explicitly call for the president’s removal but did include many troubling and, possibly, criminal revelations — few Republicans have come after the president with the force of many Democrats, some of whom have called for impeachment.
Well, that ends now. On Saturday, Justin Amash, Republican Representative of Alaska, took to Twitter with a lengthy and impassioned tweet-storm in which he first accused Attorney General William Barr of misleading the public with his report on Mueller’s report and then, perhaps more importantly, claimed President Donald J. Trump “engaged in impeachable conduct.” He also said that partisanship “has eroded our system of checks and balances,” and alleged that few members of Congress had bothered to read the full (again, still redacted) report.
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
That was just the beginning. Amash went on, over the course of 13 tweets, to elaborate upon some of his charges. For instance, he alleged that Barr had “intended to mislead the public” about Mueller and his team’s findings, through the use of deceptive language.
Barr’s misrepresentations are significant but often subtle, frequently taking the form of sleight-of-hand qualifications or logical fallacies, which he hopes people will not notice.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
Amash didn’t specify any examples of this, instead moving on to whether or not Trump’s actions detailed in the report qualify him for impeachment. He stated, for instance, that “undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.”
In fact, Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
Amash also worried about what might happen if Trump was not brought up on impeachment charges.
While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
“While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances,” Amash wrote, “the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.”
Amash pointed out that some Republican colleagues have suffered an apparent flip-flop over things like character and lawfulness.
We’ve witnessed members of Congress from both parties shift their views 180 degrees—on the importance of character, on the principles of obstruction of justice—depending on whether they’re discussing Bill Clinton or Donald Trump.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
“We’ve witnessed members of Congress from both parties shift their views 180 degrees—on the importance of character, on the principles of obstruction of justice—depending on whether they’re discussing Bill Clinton or Donald Trump,” Amash wrote.
He concluded by calling the Constitution “brilliant and awesome,” and deserving of “a government to match it.”
America’s institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
Amash’s comments make him both the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment but also a sharper critic of the president than many Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, who has voiced concern over beginning the impeachment process. According to CNN, the representative was elected into his position back in 2010, during the Tea Party wave of liberatarian-leaning conservatives. Still, Amash has found himself repeatedly pushing back against Trump and his supporters.
Amash’s tweet-storm earned him some raves from the other side of the aisle, some of whom wished more Democrats would up their game.
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1129867922342522881
Justin Amash, um, any plans this fine Saturday? pic.twitter.com/WtoWvauJJJ
— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) May 18, 2019
Everything Justin Amash said in his tweet thread just now is entirely evident to anyone who read the Mueller Report—Trump obstructed justice, his crimes were serious, Barr misled the public, these actions are worthy of impeachment—and it’s incredible he’s the only one saying it.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) May 18, 2019
Justin Amash is right. Your move House Democrats.
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) May 18, 2019
BREAKING: Congressman Justin Amash becomes first Republican in the house to openly identify as an American.
Michigan GOP congressman says Trump’s conduct impeachable https://t.co/llRDBwaAdb
— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) May 18, 2019
Gotta love Democratic Leadership showing less guts than *checks notes, shakes head in disbelief* House Republican Justin Amash on impeachment. They need to wake up! https://t.co/U8Ec2qYoQr
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) May 18, 2019