Nancy Pelosi’s quest to impeach Donald Trump was dying a slow death.
But now it’s back on track.
And that’s because this Republican just did Nancy Pelosi the biggest favor ever.
Michigan Republican Justin Amash entered Congress in 2010 as part of the Tea Party wave.
But the libertarian Republican drew the line at supporting Donald Trump.
Despite Donald Trump campaigning on the “America First” foreign policy that Amash long supported, he would not back Trump.
And ever since Donald Trump won the election, Amash has lobbed occasional pot shots at the administration while trying to maintain his conservative voting record.
But that all changed when Amash announced on social media that he finished reading the Mueller report.
Amash claimed that Barr lied to Congress and President Trump had committed impeachable offenses, tweeting:
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.
Amash continued writing:
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.
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.
Impeachment, which is a special form of indictment, does not even require probable cause that a crime (e.g., obstruction of justice) has been committed; it simply requires a finding that an official has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt, or otherwise dishonorable conduct.
Amash’s outrageous call for impeachment earned him “strange new respect” from members of the fake news media.
This is a must-read thread from a conservative Republican who came to Congress in the 2010 Tea Party wave. https://t.co/dpbwUFOe5h
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 18, 2019
GOP lawmaker AMASH finishes reading Mueller report, declares that Trump has engaged in “IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT” https://t.co/gaGz8WELQX
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) May 18, 2019
Even American-hating Democrats like socialist Rashida Tlaib heaped praise for Amash’s worm-like betrayal of the President and conservative principles.
You are putting country first, and that is to be commended. We both took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Please let me know if you are interested signing on to the resolution to begin the investigation into impeachment. https://t.co/f5CT3uB81d
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 18, 2019
But Amash’s claims are nonsense.
In his long twitter thread, he never once cited any evidence to back up his conspiracy theory that Attorney General Barr lied to Congress.
However, the damage was already done.
The fake news media latched onto Amash’s tweets because it breathed life back into the dying impeachment narrative.
Now the fake news outlets like CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times can claim both Democrats and Republicans believe Donald Trump is a corrupt tyrant who needs to be removed from office.
But Amash’s betrayal has also stirred up talk of a pro-Trump primary challenger.
The Michigan Republican last faced opposition in 2014 after he voted in favor of allowing doctors to perform abortions based on the gender of the baby.
Amash had a strong pro-life record, but that vote infuriated activists.
While Amash still won the race 57-43, he could be in much more trouble this time.
Other Republicans in Congress who had criticized the President—like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake—quickly became persona non grata in the GOP and saw their approval ratings tank so badly that they were forced to retire rather than watch a pro-Trump challenger run them out of office.
Additionally, Amash’s path to re-election could be even more difficult because some of his strongest financial backers were family members of Trump administration’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.
In fact, seven members of the DeVos family made maximum contributions to Amash’s 2018 re-election campaign and contributed $65,000 in individual contributions to his 2014 effort to fend off a primary challenger.
If they abandon Amash for a pro-Trump primary challenger, his race could be an uphill struggle.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.