Justin Amash Rails Against Partisan ‘Mindlessness’ on Impeachment

CNN’s Jake Tapper today interviewed now independent Congressman Justin Amash on the “mindless” nature of impeachment and the increasingly partisan politics at play in Washington, D.C.

Tapper opened by noting Representative Dean Phillips was disappointed that Amash was not tapped by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to fill the role as an impeachment manager in the U.S. Senate.

“Did Democratic leaders ever talk to you about possibly being an impeachment manager?,” asked Tapper.

“No, I never was contacted by any of the democratic leadership,” responded Amash.

Amash then stated that Speaker Pelosi never had a conversation with him regarding the possibility – but he would’ve had the meeting if one was ever proposed.

“How strong do you think that the case is against the president for removal from office in the Senate?” Taper questioned Amash.

“I think it is very strong case if the senators are willing to listen. So, we should have a Senate trial that is a full and fair trial, and people should be allowed to call witnesses, and I think that both sides should be able to call witnesses and make the case for their side,” Amash responded.

“Do you think that both sides should be allowed the call witnesses even if that were to include the Republicans calling Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, or the whistle-blower as witnesses?,” Tapper then asked.

Amash said he believes that witnesses should be allowed by both sides to testify, adding that, “I do think that if they can make the case that any of those individuals is relevant to the case, they should be allowed the call those individuals.”

At one point Tapper asked, “What do you make of your former Republican colleagues arguing that President Trump was sincerely, deeply concerned about corruption in Ukraine?”

“Well, there is no evidence of that. I mean, Ukraine had received money previously, and it seems like something that he brought up because we were in the midst of a start of a presidential election campaign and he clearly wanted to go after Joe Biden, and he was asking for a favor from Ukraine to help him personally.” Amash answered.

“When talking about the war powers resolution and the president not notifying Congress about Iran, you said something interesting to Rolling Stone on ordinary legislative matters congressmen don’t think anymore, and they just follow what they are told by the leadership, and that is describing a mindless partisanship, and do you see it on impeachment and on one side more than the other?,” asked Tapper. 

“I think it is worse on the Republican side, but I see it on both sides. If the roles were reversed and if you had a Democratic president, you would see a lot of Democrats and maybe not all of the Democrats, but you would see a lot of the Democrats defending the president. So, I do sort of see this mindlessness, and it is easy to say that if we were in charge we would do the same thing if it were one side or another, but I have been here for enough years to see that partisanship runs rampant here on both sides,” Amash warned. 

Watch above, via CNN.

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