The president’s son Donald Trump Jr. wants Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) to know he will see him soon on the campaign trail in Michigan, where Trump Jr. will presumably back Amash challenger, Jim Lower. Lower, a Republican who said he voted for Amash three times and was upset by the congressman’s calls for President Donald Trump‘s impeachment, is hoping to unseat Amash in Michigan’s 3rd District in 2020.
The statement: “See you soon Justin… I hear Michigan is beautiful during primary season.”
See you soon Justin… I hear Michigan is beautiful during primary season. https://t.co/dZzDU9240V
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 13, 2019
Trump Jr. made this remark while also linking to a Practical Political Consulting poll from Wednesday. The poll showed the Lower leads Amash by 16 percentage points (Lower, 49%-Amash, 33%).
The plain meaning of Trump Jr.’s words:
The Trump family member with the largest following among the Republican base is effectively confirming he plans to campaign to defeat Justin Amash in his primary. https://t.co/OIjfmkAZkW
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) June 13, 2019
Now Trump’s son says he’ll campaign against @justinamash in his House GOP primary next year https://t.co/ZP4ZEYF7qG
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) June 13, 2019
Amash, for his part, was unfazed by the inauspicious polling numbers.
“First, I’m not going to lose, and second, I don’t have any regrets about doing the right thing [on impeachment],” he said. “I didn’t run for office to sell out my principles to the party or to any one person”
He also responded directly to Trump Jr., saying, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer https://t.co/KmtA2khvLs
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 13, 2019
Lower, in case you missed it, specifically moved up the announcement of his House run last month to respond to Amash’s comments.
“I was like, I can’t let this go by without commenting on it,” he told the Greenville Daily News. “It’s not every day your Congressman says your president should be impeached.”
Amash is the only Republican member of Congress to take a stand on impeachment after Special Counsel Robert Mueller handed in his confidential report. Amash composed lengthy Twitter threads on a few occasions to criticize the president. He has also criticized Attorney General William Barr for his his handling of the Mueller Report.
May 18
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.— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
May 20
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
May 23
Mueller’s report describes a consistent effort by the president to use his office to obstruct or otherwise corruptly impede the Russian election interference investigation because it put his interests at risk.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019
May 28
Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019
June 7
As you can see from the attached tweet, I initially fell for Attorney General Barr’s March 24 letter of principal conclusions—but then I read Mueller’s report. https://t.co/cBuatwNInE
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Amash stepped down from the House Freedom Caucus on Monday — a caucus he co-founded in 2015.
[Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
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