Amash Considering Independent Russia Commission After Comey Firing

U.S Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, speaks to the audience during a town hall meeting on Feb. 23, 2017 at the Full Blast Recreation Center in Battle Creek, Mich. (Carly Geraci | MLive.com) — U.S Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, speaks to the audience during a town hall meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 at the Full Blast Recreation Center in Battle Creek, Mich. Amash is embracing the town halls t... U.S Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, speaks to the audience during a town hall meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 at the Full Blast Recreation Center in Battle Creek, Mich. Amash is embracing the town halls that many of his Republican counterparts in Congress have avoided as people lash out at President Donald Trump’s early actions and the planned repeal of the federal health care law. (Carly Geraci/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP) MORE LESS

By Alice Ollstein

May 9, 2017 7:54 p.m.

Start your day with TPM.

In the wake of Tuesday night’s bombshell news that President Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey, most Republican members of Congress either remained silent or released statements supporting the President’s decision.

But Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, announced Tuesday that he and his staff are considering a bill that would establish an independent commission to take up the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contact with the Russian government that Comey was overseeing.

My staff and I are reviewing legislation to establish an independent commission on Russia. The second paragraph of this letter is bizarre. https://t.co/wXeDtVIQiP

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 9, 2017

Following Comey’s dismissal and allegations that the House and Senate committees investigating the Russia ties have been starved of resources and stymied by partisanship, calls from both sides of the aisle for an independent prosecutor or independent commission to take up the matter are growing louder.

Start your day with TPM.

Alice Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) was a reporter at Talking Points Memo, covering national politics. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been reporting in DC ever since, covering the Supreme Court, Congress and national elections for TV, radio, print, and online outlets. Her work has aired on Free Speech Radio News, All Things Considered, Channel News Asia, and Telesur, and her writing has been published by The Atlantic, La Opinión, and The Hill Rag. She was elected in 2016 as an at-large board member of the DC Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Alice grew up in Santa Monica, California and began working for local newspapers in her early teens.

Have a tip? Send it Here!