First Republicans In Congress Use the I-Word: Impeachment

Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has been one of the loudest critics of President Donald Trump as scandal after scandal has hit the administration over its first few months.

He had already been one of just a tiny handful of GOP lawmakers backing Democrats’ call for an independent commission to investigate Trump, and he went a step further on Wednesday.

Asked if the new revelations that President Trump pressured then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation of national security advisor Mike Flynn’s communications with the Russian government could be grounds for impeachment, Amash told reporters: “If the allegations are true, yes. But everybody in this country gets a fair trial, including the president.”

Asked who he trusts more if the matter comes down to a dispute between Comey’s memos versus Trump’s account of their conversations, Amash said: “I think it’s pretty clear I have more confidence in Director Comey.”

Amash’s comments came on the heels of Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) raising the possibility of impeaching Trump in an interview Tuesday night on CNN.

“Any effort to stop the federal government from conducting an investigation, any effort to dissuade federal agents from pursuing an investigation is very serious and could be construed as obstruction of justice,” he said. “We’ve seen that these obstruction of justice cases, when they deal with presidents, can get ugly very fast.”

“Obstruction in the case of Nixon and in the case of Clinton in the late 90s has been considered an impeachable offense,” he added.

The first version of this reported cited Amash as the first sitting Republican to float impeachment. Curbelo was in fact the first. We regret the error.