Independent Justin Amash took to Twitter Sunday to attack House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for his performance on 60 Minutes when he was questioned about President Donald Trump’s conversation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump is accused of attempting to bribe Zelensky to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, The Independent reports.
“Kevin McCarthy again displays his unique brand of incompetence and dishonesty,” Amash tweeted.
Host Scott Pelley asked McCarthy about whether it was appropriate for the president to attempt to undermine a political opponent using foreign assistance. McCarthy dodged the question and focused on the weight of votes sending troops to war and the difficulty of making such votes.
At one point, McCarthy accused Pelley of altering a quote he read from the transcript.
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it,” Trump is recorded as saying.
McCarthy appeared to believe that Pelley added the word “though,” which is the word Democrats believe is most damning as it suggests Trump’s offer of military aid is conditional.
Regardless, McCarthy defended the president’s choice of words and did not throw his support behind impeachment.
“Why would we move forward with impeachment? There’s not something that you have to defend here. The president did nothing in this phone call that’s impeachable.”
Kevin McCarthy again displays his unique brand of incompetence and dishonesty. pic.twitter.com/KAijpPMk6R
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) September 30, 2019
Amash has been vocal in his criticism of the current GOP under Trump. On Saturday, he criticized the Republican Party’s defense of Trump’s phone call with Zelensky.
“Nearly every Trump ally’s defense has been an effort to gaslight America,” he tweeted , highlighting that Trump has “admitted to wrongdoing” regardless of whether he understands why he is wrong.
An official impeachment inquiry into Trump is currently underway. According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate has “no choice” but to take up the articles , although many expect it to acquit Trump. As for Trump, his camp has been attempting to shift focus onto Biden and his purported intervention in the Ukraine legal system to help his son, Hunter, avoid trouble.
Trump has also been taking to Twitter to lash out and appears to be in panic mode . Although he and his team were previously able to stonewall Congress by preventing witnesses from giving testimony and keeping important documents under wraps, doing the same during impeachment proceedings will provide ammunition for an article of impeachment based on obstructing Congress.