Republican Justin Amash clashes with Trump supporters over impeachment at heated town hall event
Michigan representative says he was ‘appalled’ by contents of Mueller report
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Your support makes all the difference.Justin Amash has become the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of President Trump, but many right-wing voters in his constituency are angry.
Mr Amash has cited volume II of the Mueller report, which outlines 10 instances in which Mr Trump attempted to interfere with the investigation, as the reason for his calls for impeachment.
“I am confident if you read volume II, you will be appalled at much of the conduct,” Mr Amash said during a town hall meeting at Grand Rapids in his home state of Michigan.
“I was appalled by it… And we can’t let conduct like that go unchecked.”
Mr Amash has also accused the Attorney General William Barr of misrepresenting the facts in the Mueller report “to help build the president’s false narrative that the investigation was unjustified”.
Many voters in Michigan have applauded Mr Amash’s stance, with some giving him a standing ovation, but others are dismayed the Republican candidate they voted for is not backing the president.
There were numerous heated exchanges during the meeting, with some people accusing Mr Amash of “grandstanding”, of carrying out a “smear attack” and seeking to build his political career on the issue.
One woman, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, asked Mr Amash: “How can you become a Democrat when we voted for you as a Republican?”
She also said she believed Democrats were “trying to take over the country through a silent coup”.
In response, Mr Amash listed his conservative credentials, and also expressed his concern that partisanship had become a stronger force than Congressional independence. He said he fears in the US “we’ve gotten to the point that impeachment will never be used”.
As a result of his calls for impeachment, Mr Amash has been denounced by the Republican Party, and faces two Republican primary challenges – one opposing candidate has raised over $60,000 (£47,500) in eight days.
Mr Amash was first elected to Congress in 2010 among a wave of Tea Party candidates. He has maintained a strong fiscally conservative agenda and has refused to back government spending on healthcare.
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