A private campaign is underway to draft Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Trump, a bid to diversify House Democrats’ appeal to voters with a rare conservative voice.
A group of 30 freshman Democrats, led by Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), has asked House leaders to consider the libertarian, who left the Republican Party earlier this year, for the small group tasked with arguing its case for removing Trump in the upper chamber, according to several Democratic officials.
The thinking, according to these people, is that Amash would reach conservative voters in a way Democrats can’t, potentially bolstering their case to the public. He also would provide Democrats cover from GOP accusations that they’re pursuing a partisan impeachment; Amash is one of the most conservative members of the House and a vocal Trump critic.
“To the extent that this can be bipartisan, it should, and I think including Representative Amash amongst the impeachment managers is a smart move both for the country, for the substance and for the optics,” Phillips said, adding that Amash brings an array of qualifications: He’s an attorney, a constitutionalist and “the first and only member of the Republican conference, when he was a Republican, to show courage,” Phillips added.
Amash is my rep. I think his intellectual reputation is overblown, but since the baseline scenario for impeachment in the senate is a show trial followed by acquittal, it seems like throwing him in there as a curveball is probably worth a shot.
-------------------------------- Life is short. Play with your dog.
Former Republicans Wednesday announced the creation of a group intended to protect Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) going into his 2020 reelection race.
Country Above Party, an independent federal Super PAC, was formed to “keep Justin Amash the only Independent in Congress” after threats from the president to try to unseat him next year over his staunch criticism of the White House and his defection from the GOP.
Amash is also expected vote to impeach President Trump later on Wednesday when the House votes on two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“I don’t agree with him on every issue, but I think Washington needs more Justin Amashes,” said Jeff Timmer, a longtime political consultant and former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party who led Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) 2016 presidential campaign, in the statement by the group.
