Sen. Mitt Romney, who has publicly sparred with the president, said Sunday he disagrees with a fellow Republican who came forward over the weekend saying President Trump committed impeachable offenses.
The Utah Republican said he came to a different conclusion than Rep. Justin Amash, Michigan Republican, after reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, saying although some of the information was troubling, he did not think Mr. Trump should be impeached.
“There isn’t the full elements you need to prove an obstruction of justice case,” Mr. Romney said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“The American people just aren’t there,” the 2012 GOP presidential nominee added. “I don’t think impeachment is the right way to go.”
His comments came after Mr. Amash took to Twitter Saturday to lay out in a series of tweets why he thinks the president’s conduct crossed the line, saying he violated the public trust.
“Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report,” Mr. Amash said in a tweet. “President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.”
SEE ALSO: Justin Amash’s call for impeachment proceedings rejected by Republicans, Trump
Here are my principal conclusions:
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019
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.
This is not the first time Mr. Amash has criticized the president. He supported Rand Paul and Ted Cruz during the GOP primary in 2016.
Mr. Trump took to Twitter Sunday calling Mr. Amash a “lightweight” and a “loser.”
“Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy,” the president tweeted.
“Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!” he added.
SEE ALSO: Justin Amash, GOP congressman: Donald Trump has met ‘threshold for impeachment’
Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat, saw the Michigan Republican’s position as the start of a bipartisan impeachment process.
“There is now bipartisan support of now understating the serious of what is in the Mueller report,” Ms. Jayapal told CNN.
She said it isn’t about a rush to vote for the president to be impeached, but to open up a probe into the possibility.
“We’re very quickly heading down that path,” she said.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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