In an exclusive interview, Rep. Paul Mitchell, Republican of Michigan, told CNN that his disgust and disappointment with President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election have led him to request that the Clerk of the House change his party affiliation to "independent," and to notify GOP leaders in a letter that he is withdrawing his "engagement and association with the Republican Party at both the national and state level."
Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of this session of Congress, says he fears that the House GOP leadership's participation in the outgoing President's conspiracy theories and attempts to disenfranchise millions of American voters to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory could cause "long-term harm to our democracy."
It is "unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote," Mitchell wrote in his letter, which was sent Monday.
Mitchell noted that Republican leaders had been "collectively sit(ting) back and tolerat(ing) unfounded conspiracy theories and 'stop the steal' rallies without speaking out for our electoral process," and the last straw for him seemed to be "the leadership of the Republican Party and our Republican Conference in the House actively participating in at least some of those efforts."
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Mitchell, one of the wealthiest members of Congress and a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, was elected to the House in 2016. He voted for Trump that year and again earlier this year. He's publicly called out the President before, but on policy at least, has been a strong supporter of Trump, voting with him 95% of the time, as he pointed out in his letter to Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, a fellow Michigander, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
The congressman from Michigan's 10th District included in his letter an aside to McDaniel, suggesting that he's confident that she knows better, particularly when it comes to unhinged allegations about the Wolverine State.
