Rep. Justin Amash, the sole congressional Republican to call for President Trump’s impeachment, came under renewed fire Wednesday from the White House, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee as he continued to make the case that Congress should take action against the president.
“The ball is in our court, Congress,” Amash wrote in response.
The ball is in our court, Congress. https://t.co/idpQo1xItH
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 29, 2019
That prompted tweets from Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who accused Amash of “grandstanding,” and from Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, who called Amash “Phony” and “just another Grandstanding Swamp Creature auditioning for the approval of the liberal media.”
You're right, Justin. Instead of grandstanding, there's a LOT of work Congress (you) can do.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) May 29, 2019
You can start with:
*ratifying #USMCA
*funding border security
*merit-based immigration reform
*an infrastructure bill
*passing legislation to lower drug priceshttps://t.co/Kpvs9n6hJZ
If Phony @justinamash were a TRUE libertarian, he wouldn’t stand for abuse of FBI power, spying, & bogus dossiers funded by political foes and fed to secret FISA courts. He is just another Grandstanding Swamp Creature auditioning for the approval of the liberal media.
— Brad Parscale (@parscale) May 29, 2019
Later in the day, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders spoke dismissively of Amash as she took questions from reporters.
“I don’t think Congressman Amash is worth the time of the White House,” said Sanders, who left open the possibility that Trump would back a primary opponent in Amash’s district.
“I’ll let the president make that determination,” she said.
Sanders argued that Congress needs to move on, given that Attorney General William P. Barr has determined that Trump’s actions did not amount to obstruction.
At his town hall meeting Tuesday night, Amash said that Mueller’s findings left him with no option other than to support Trump’s impeachment.
Defending his stance, he told supporters and opponents that Congress “has a duty to keep the president in check.”
“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 hundreds of people crowded into an auditorium at Grand Rapids Christian High School, some of whom greeted him with loud cheers.
In her tweet Wednesday, McDaniel suggested that Amash should be focused on legislation that he could help Trump pass, including a pending trade deal with Mexico and Canada and an infrastructure package.
Trump said last week that he would not work with Democratic lawmakers on legislation, including infrastructure, until they wrapped congressional investigations of him and his administration.
In his tweet, Parscale questioned Amash’s self-description as a libertarian, arguing that if he were, he would be more concerned about tactics the FBI used during its investigation of possible coordination of Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016.
David Weigel contributed to this report.