Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), the first congressional Republican to accuse President Donald Trump of engaging in “impeachment” acts, doubled down Monday, claiming those who assert the president did not commit any crimes are relying on “several falsehoods.”
In a series of tweets, Amash claimed special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on now-debunked collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russa did, in fact, reveal the president acted illegally, arguing that “obstruction of justice does not require the prosecution of an underlying crime.”
People who say there were no underlying crimes and therefore the president could not have intended to illegally obstruct the investigation—and therefore cannot be impeached—are resting their argument on several falsehoods:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
1. They say there were no underlying crimes.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
In fact, there were many crimes revealed by the investigation, some of which were charged, and some of which were not but are nonetheless described in Mueller’s report.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
2. They say obstruction of justice requires an underlying crime.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
In fact, obstruction of justice does not require the prosecution of an underlying crime, and there is a logical reason for that. Prosecutors might not charge a crime precisely *because* obstruction of justice denied them timely access to evidence that could lead to a prosecution.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
If an underlying crime were required, then prosecutors could charge obstruction of justice only if it were unsuccessful in completely obstructing the investigation. This would make no sense.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
3. They imply the president should be permitted to use any means to end what he claims to be a frivolous investigation, no matter how unreasonable his claim.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
In fact, the president could not have known whether every single person Mueller investigated did or did not commit any crimes.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
4. They imply “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” requires charges of a statutory crime or misdemeanor.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
In fact, “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” is not defined in the Constitution and does not require corresponding statutory charges. The context implies conduct that violates the public trust—and that view is echoed by the Framers of the Constitution and early American scholars.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 20, 2019
Often a lone GOP voice in Congress, Amash sent a series of tweets Saturday faulting both Trump and Attorney General William Barr over Mueller’s report. Mueller wrapped the investigation and submitted his report to Barr in late March. Barr then released a summary of Mueller’s “principal conclusions” and released a redacted version of the report in April.
Mueller found no criminal conspiracy between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. In a summary to Congress, Barr said Team Mueller concluded that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia. Further, the attorney general stated Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Trump obstructed justice, stating that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the president had not done so.
Amash said he reached four conclusions after carefully reading the redacted version of Mueller’s report, including that “President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.”
“Contrary to Barr’s portrayal, Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment,” the congressman tweeted. He said the 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.”
President Trump and Republican lawmakers generally view the matter as “case closed,” as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), recently declared on the floor of the Senate.
On the other hand, Democrats who control the House are locked in a bitter standoff with the White House as it ignores lawmakers’ requests for the more complete version of Mueller’s report, the underlying evidence and witness testimony. Some Democrats wants the House to open impeachment hearings, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has resisted, saying impeachment must be bipartisan.
On Monday, Michigan State Rep. Jim Lower (R) announced he will mount a primary challenge to Amash. He was expected to officially launch his primary challenge around July 4th, but moved up the announcement in the wake of Amash’s impeachment comments.
“Congressman Justin Amash tweets yesterday calling for President Trump’s impeachment show how out of touch he is with the truth and how out of touch he is with people he represents,” said Lower, per the Detriot Free Press. “He must be replaced and I am going to do it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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