Former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a noted anti-Trump Republican who later switched over to the Libertarian Party, came down hard on the latest indictment against the former president on charges related to January 6.
In a lengthy post to his Twitter (X) account on Sunday, Amash said the latest indictment essentially criticized the former president for political actions that Democrats disagreed with. He noted how presidents of all stripes have made highly questionable decisions over the years, from launching wars to spying on Americans, with almost no legal repercussions.
“I may not like Trump, but I love our Constitution, so I feel compelled to speak out. The latest indictment, which I encourage everyone to read, attempts to criminalize Trump’s routine misstatements of fact and law in connection with the 2020 election. But this is precisely the sort of wrong that must be addressed politically under our Constitution, not criminally,” he said.
“Our system can’t survive if political disputes are removed to the criminal realm. There’s no limiting principle to such an approach. Remind me again which former presidents have been indicted for going to war without congressional approval, spying on Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment, abusing emergency declarations to bypass checks and balances, or ignoring legal advisers to pursue a clearly unlawful policy,” he continued.
While Amash strongly disagreed with Trump’s actions in the lead up to January 6, he believed that the American people and the political system should be the final arbiter on that.
“We don’t criminalize these actions, egregious as they are, because they are matters of political contention. We’re allowed to disagree about the workings of our constitutional system without fear of criminal reprisal. Politicians are constantly misguided and just plain mistaken about a lot of things — often remarkably so,” he said.
“It endangers all Americans to begin treating politicians’ false beliefs regarding political or constitutional matters, even when they’re obviously wrong, as criminal offenses,” he concluded. “We impeach people for violating the public trust — for political misconduct or serious incompetence. We reject them. We vote them out. We never again elect them. We don’t imprison them.”
I may not like Trump, but I love our Constitution, so I feel compelled to speak out.
The latest indictment, which I encourage everyone to read, attempts to criminalize Trump’s routine misstatements of fact and law in connection with the 2020 election.
But this is precisely the…
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) August 6, 2023
Amash also previously criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of the former president for alleged hush money payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
Amash famously supported the impeachment of President Trump during his tenure in the White House over the flimsy Robert Mueller report. He also called Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “conniving and fundamentally dishonest” after tape recordings emerged of McCarthy in early 2022 excoriating Trump on a private conference call with other GOP leaders.
“I met a lot of duplicitous people in Congress but none more conniving and fundamentally dishonest than Kevin McCarthy,” Amash tweeted after the McCarthy tapes were released in 2022. “He will say or do whatever he thinks is necessary at a particular moment to obtain or maintain power.”
As Breitbart’s Joel Pollak noted, the indictment “was announced the day after President Joe Biden had been implicated in a long-running influence peddling scheme by his son Hunter’s former business partner, Devon Archer, in testimony before the House Oversight Committee.”
“Trump was indicted on four counts: one on conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; one on conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; one of obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and one of conspiracy against rights,” Pollak explained.
“The indictment does not indicate how prosecutors were able to establish what Trump himself believed, other than the fact that he had been informed by others that his suspicions of fraud were false; nor does it distinguish the case from the ‘Russia collusion’ hoax spread by Trump’s opponents, including within the Department of Justice, after he won the 2016 presidential election,” Pollak added.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
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