Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) has stepped down from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, weeks after becoming the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Amash, one of the Freedom Caucus’ founding members, told CNN that he’d announced his resignation at the group’s weekly board meeting on Monday. He said the meeting had been a “positive” one.

“I have the highest regard for them, and they’re my close friends,” Amash said of the Freedom Caucus. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group.”

Amash made waves last month when he tweeted his conviction, based on his reading of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, that Trump had “engaged in impeachable conduct.”

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

Top GOP leaders, including the president himself, condemned Amash for his views. The House Freedom Caucus also distanced itself from the congressman, with former chairman Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio telling Politico in May that “every single” member who’d attended that week’s meeting “disagrees with what he says.”

Amash told CNN in March that he’s stopped attending most Freedom Caucus meetings following clashes with members over their differing views on Trump.

The congressman has refused to back down from his calls for Trump’s impeachment.

“I’d do it whether it was a Republican president or a Democratic president. It doesn’t matter. You elected me to represent all of you,” Amash told supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last month. “Congress has a duty to keep the president in check .… And I think we owe it to the American people to represent them, to ensure that the people we have in office are doing the right thing, are of good character, aren’t violating the public trust.” </s> The Washington TimesRep. Justin Amash has stepped down from the House Freedom Caucus, telling CNN on Monday night that he had just told his colleagues.The Michigan Republican, who last month became the first Republican to call for President Trump’s impeachment, said he didn’t want to be a distraction for the conservative group.

Read more at The Washington Times. </s> Rep. Justin Amash, the first Republican to call for President Donald Trump's impeachment following the release of the Mueller report, has left the conservative House Freedom Caucus and its board, a source close to Amash confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday.

"I have the highest regard for them and they're my close friends," Amash told CNN on Monday. "I didn't want to be a further distraction for the group."

Amash publicly condemned President Trump on Twitter in May saying that after reading the Mueller report he believes that the president engaged in “impeachable conduct.” He also took aim at Attorney General William Barr for “deliberately misrepresenting” the findings of the report.

The caucus was officially founded by conservatives in 2015 at the House Republican retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and now includes more than 30 members. It's chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows, a third-term Republican from North Carolina. Beyond Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Reps. Justin Amash, R-Mich., Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., were all founding members and still serve in the House of Representatives.

Following Amash's remarks about Trump's impeachment, the House Freedom Caucus came out strongly against him.

“We had a good discussion and every single member, I think now based on who was there and our board meeting was probably over 30 members, every single member disagrees and strongly with the position Justin took over the week, and we're focused on the now,” Jordan said to reporters.

The Michigan lawmaker opposed Trump’s primary campaign and in the past couple years close observers believe he has grown frustrated with the caucus’s leadership, including Trump loyalist Meadows and Jordan.

While Amash has not signed on to any existing impeachment resolutions proposed by Democrats, in a town hall in Grand Rapids he said it is appropriate for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to proceed with impeachment inquiries and hearings. Ultimately, he says, the ball is in Pelosi's court regarding how to go forward.

"I think it's really important that we do our job as a Congress, that we do not allow misconduct to go undeterred, that we not just say someone can violate the public trust and that there are no consequences to it," Amash said. </s> MICHIGAN - President Donald Trump fired back at U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., in an attack on social media Sunday morning.

The Twitter attack came only a day after Amash called for Trump's impeachment.

In the attack, Trump said he has never been a fan of the western Michigan-based congressmen.

On Saturday, Amash said Trump committed "impeachable conduct" and accused Attorney General William Barr of intentionally misleading the public in regard to the Mueller report.

Read the tweet right here. </s> Amash is the only Republican in the House to call for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. Currently, a quarter of the House Democratic caucus support opening such an inquiry.

Amash, 39, identifies as a libertarian Republican and is considered among the most conservative members of the House, in which he’s served in since 2011. He helped found the Freedom Caucus in 2015, which is chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a frequent defender of the president.

“I have the highest regard for them, and they’re my close friends,” Amash told CNN reporter Haley Byrd on Monday evening. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group."

Amash's chief of staff Poppy Nelson confirmed the move to NBC Tuesday.

Meadows said that he had spoken to Amash on Monday, and that Amash did not attend the group's weekly meeting that evening.

“Justin and I have had conversations over the last several weeks and discussed the mission of the Freedom Caucus, which is to represent the millions of Americans who feel like Washington, D.C., has forgotten them," Meadows said. "He felt like his continued affiliation with the caucus would be a distraction, and that it was best for all concerned that he step aside.”

Conservative groups like the Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America and Americans for Prosperity have awarded Amash lifetime ratings of more than 85 percent. But that hasn’t stopped the congressman from bashing Trump publicly.

Last month, Amash posted a series of tweets about his conclusions from reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying, “Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”

The tweets led to Amash receiving his first official 2020 GOP primary challenger — Michigan state Rep. Jim Lower, who said in a statement that he is a “pro-Trump, pro-life, pro-jobs, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-family values Republican,” and that Amash's remarks “show how out of touch he is with the truth, and how out of touch he is with people he represents.”

Amash is often viewed as an outlier within his own conference, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., noted Tuesday. "Justin Amash can determine his own future, but I think in a philosophical basis he is probably in a different place than a majority of Republicans," McCarthy said at a GOP leadership press conference when asked about the Michigan congressman's resignation from the Freedom Caucus.

In February, Amash was one of 13 Republicans to join 232 Democrats in favor of a bill to overturn Trump’s emergency declaration to build a border wall. A month later, he defected again and joined Democrats in a vote to override the president’s veto of that measure. And in December, Amash was one of only eight Republicans to vote against a spending bill that would have provided $5.7 billion in border wall funding. According to FiveThirtyEight, Amash voted about 54 percent of the time with Trump in the first two years of his presidential term. </s> Republican Representative Justin Amash is stepping down from his position with the House Freedom Caucus amid the fallout after he called for President Donald Trump's impeachment.

Amash made the announcement of his voluntary departure on Monday at a Freedom Caucus board meeting, Fox News reported.

Amash said during his remarks that he didn't want to be a 'further distraction' for the influential conservative caucus.

A few weeks ago, the Michigan lawmaker became the only Republican in Congress to openly argue that Trump had committed impeachable offenses. He made the accusations in a lengthy Twitter thread.

'Some of the president's actions were inherently corrupt. Other actions were corrupt—and therefore impeachable—because the president took them to serve his own interests,' Amash posted on May 23.

Jim Jordan, a Republican representative from Ohio, and a member of the Freedom Caucus, told Fox on Monday that Amash mutually came to the decision to step aside with the caucus's chairman, Mark Meadows.

Amash had come under fire from those within his party, and especially the president, after he sided with Democrats who have increased calls for Trump's impeachment after the publication of the Russia report.

'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,' Trump posted to Twitter in response to Amash's call for impeachment.

'Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!' he continued.

Although more than 50 Democrats in Congress have called for Trump's impeachment, no Republicans – until Amash – had agreed.

Calls for impeachment proceedings increased after Mueller delivered remarks at the Department of Justice last month and said his report is his testimony. He also said he did not charge Trump because it is longstanding DOJ protocol to not charge a sitting president with a federal crime.

Democrats claimed this was basically Mueller telling them it was up to Congress to bring charges against the president and impeach him.

A redacted version of Mueller's 448-page was made public in April, a few weeks after Attorney General Bill Barr classified the report in a four-page memo that claimed it found Trump had committed no crimes.

The report did not find evidence that Trump had conspired with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 elections, but did outline a handful of 'episodes' that were potential grounds for obstruction.

Democrats say this is enough to impeach Trump, and Amash accused Barr of intentionally misrepresenting Mueller's report.

About a week after taking a stance on impeachment, Amash held a town hall with constituents in Michigan.

Amash fielded mixed reviews from about 800 audience members at the event in Grand Rapids.

For more than two hours that evening, Amash took questions from audience members at the DeVos Center for Arts and Worship at Grand Rapids Christian High School.

The majority of attendees peppered the congressman about Mueller's Russia report and the congressman's analysis of the document.

Although many of the audience members applauded the congressman with standing ovations on his courage in calling for Trump's impeachment, others accused him of switching political parties.

'How can you become a Democrat when we voted you in as a Republican?' 57-year-old Diane Luke, who was wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat, questioned, adding she was disappointed in Amash. </s> A Republican congressman has broken ranks with the party and called for Donald Trump's impeachment.

Justin Amash of Michigan, who is reportedly considering running against the President next year, said Mr Trump had engaged in conduct which met the threshold for impeachment.

Mr Amash also accused the US attorney general, William Barr, of wilfully misleading Congress over the contents of Robert Mueller's report into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

His attack was dismissed by Mr Trump who dismissed Mr Amash as a "total lightweight." </s> • GOP Rep. Justin Amash stepped down from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus on Monday night.
• “I have the highest regard for them, and they’re my close friends,” Amash told CNN. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group.”
• The move comes after Amash ignited a firestorm within his own party by calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment last month.
• Though his stance was viewed favorably by many in the public, it prompted Trump allies and several top Republicans to disown him.

Michigan Rep. Justin Amash stepped down from the House Freedom Caucus on Monday night, CNN reported.

“I have the highest regard for them, and they’re my close friends,” Amash said. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group.”

The move comes after the lawmaker ignited a firestorm by being the first Republican to call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment last month.

He said he made his decision after reading the former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, which examined Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice in the inquiry.

Amash wrote on Twitter at the time that he came to his conclusion “only after having read Mueller’s redacted report carefully and completely” and reviewing relevant testimony and materials.

Read more: A Republican congressman just became the first in his party to call for Trump’s impeachment

Amash also sharply criticized Attorney General William Barr’s handling of Mueller’s report, the way it was portrayed to the public, and his subsequent attempts to sugarcoat Mueller’s findings in what many saw as an effort to shield Trump.

At a town hall shortly after making his comments, Amash said “a lot of” congressional Republicans agree with him that Trump should be impeached, but won’t say it publicly.

Amash’s remarks were viewed favorably by much of the general public; indeed, a majority of Americans in an INSIDER poll agreed with the Michigan congressman that Trump committed impeachable offenses.

But he faced a lot of heat from members of his own party, many of whom disowned him after he came out against the president.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Amash’s decision a plea for attention during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“You’ve got to understand Justin Amash. He’s been in Congress quite some time,” McCarthy said. “I think he’s asked one question in all the committees that he’s been in. He votes more with Nancy Pelosi than he ever votes with me. It’s a question whether he’s even in our Republican conference as a whole.”

The move also prompted Michigan State Rep. Jim Lower to launch a primary challenge, citing Amash’s claims as the catalyst.

But the GOP response to Amash was predictable.

Just a few weeks before Amash spoke out against Trump, a media report revealed Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Donald Trump, Jr. The move infuriated Trump’s allies and prompted Republicans to turn on a senator they had previously championed as a calculated leader during tense investigations. </s> Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) resigned Monday evening from the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative congressional group he helped launch in January 2015, after putting himself at odds with lawmakers in calling for impeachment proceedings to begin against President Donald Trump.

“I have the highest regard for them and they’re my close friends,” Amash said in a statement to CNN. “I didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group.”

The Michigan Republican raised eyebrows less than a month ago when he accused President Trump of committing “impeachable” offenses stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on now-debunked collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. The libertarian-leaning lawmaker also alleged Attorney General William Barr misrepresented Mueller’s key findings. Notwithstanding Amash’s assertions, Mueller found no criminal conspiracy occurred between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government, and further, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein used the special counsel’s findings to determine the president had not obstructed justice during the two-year-plus probe.

Amash’s position has earned him strong rebuke from Republicans, including President Trump, who has hit back at the congressman, calling him a “loser” and an attention-seeker. Last month, the House Freedom Caucus formally condemned Amash’s remarks on impeachment. “It was every single person who totally disagrees with what he says,” Rep. Jim Jordan (D-OH) said of the 30-lawmaker strong vote. “What concerns me is Justin was viewed as a leader, right, on protecting privacy rights first to First Amendment rights.”

During a recent town hall, Amash was assailed by Trump supporters, including one African-American voter who criticized the congressman’s “demonizing” calls to start impeachment.

“From what I’m seeing, for the black community and minorities, is that Trump is good for America,” the voter said. “And I’m wondering why the Republicans and Democrats are fighting him so much when he’s doing such a good job?”

“You’re demonizing him on something that you know is not true,” he added. “It’s just bewildering to me that you can treat the president of the United States in this way, especially when he’s doing such a good job for minorities and black people.”

Amash responded to the unidentified man, stating that many people “disagree” with his position and claimed “nobody’s demonizing” President Trump. “The person who demonizes people every day is Donald Trump,” he claimed. “He goes on Twitter and calls people names and says the most egregious things about people.”

On top of criticism from members of his own party, Amash’s position has also earned him a primary challenge from Michigan State Rep. Jim Lower (R) and Army National Guardsman Tom Norton.

“Congressman Justin Amash tweets yesterday calling for President Trump’s impeachment show how out of touch he is with the truth and how out of touch he is with people he represents,” Lower said at the time of his campaign launch, per the Detroit Free Press. “He must be replaced and I am going to do it.”
Justin Amash from Michigan's 3rd congressional district becomes the first Republican U.S. Representative to support the impeachment of President Donald Trump.