Amid the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump , Independent Michigan Rep. Justin Amash took to Twitter on Thursday night and again expressed his belief that the president should be removed from office for his actions.
“The president has abused power for personal gain, precisely as the Framers of the Constitution feared,” Amash wrote. “To not remove him for such misconduct will embolden future executives to act in their own interests to the detriment of our republic. The impeachment power will be dead law.”
Amash previously expressed his belief that there is “substantial evidence” that Trump has “acted corruptly for personal gain.” He pointed to the president’s decision to task his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to head the alleged pressure campaign on Ukraine, and his decision to leave key Trump administration officials “out of the loop.”
The 39-year-old congressman also noted that Trump’s pressure campaign allegedly intended to seek Ukraine’s announcement of investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, as opposed to open investigations at the Department of Justice.
Amash also took to Twitter on Thursday night to praise his friend, Judge Andrew Napolitano, for sticking to his principles. His comment was in reference to Napolitano’s recent Fox News op-ed, in which he argued that the evidence for Trump’s removal is “ample and contradicted.”
In his article, Napolitano noted that high crimes and misdemeanors do not include violations of federal criminal statutes, echoing Amash’s previous attack on Republicans for allegedly intentionally misleading on impeachment.
Every American should watch @RepAdamSchiff ’s closing at Thursday’s session. pic.twitter.com/N5ulp0bL7Y
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 24, 2020
The House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump: one for abuse of power, and the other for obstruction of Congress. Per The Washington Post , House managers turned their attention to the second charge on Friday, which is the third and last day of their opening arguments. On Saturday, Trump’s defense team will get a chance to hit back with their own presentation, which will continue into next week.
Thus far, Democrats appear to be doing well in presenting their case. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said that House managers presented the Senate with a “mountain of overwhelming evidence.”
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz also praised the Democrats for their presentation on Wednesday, Business Insider reported. While he said the Democrats presented their case as if it were “cable news,” he blasted the Trump defense team and said it looked like an “eighth-grade book report.”
“Actually, no, I take that back,” he said, claiming that an eighth-grader would know how to use PowerPoint and iPads.