House Republican on Support for Impeachment: ‘In No Way, Shape, or Form Did I Indicate Support for Impeachment’

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada) speaks at a town hall in Reno, Nevada in an April 17, 2017. (David Calvert/Getty Images)

A Republican Congressman who was widely reported to have said he supported impeachment issued a statement clarifying his position.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada) told reporters on a conference call on Sept. 27 that he supports Congressional oversight of President Donald Trump but does not necessarily support impeachment.

“Let’s put it through the process and see what happens. I’m a big fan of oversight, so let’s let the committees get to work and see where it goes,” he said.

“Using government agencies to, if it’s proven, to put your finger on the scale of an election, I don’t think that’s right. If it turns out that it’s something along those lines, then there’s a problem.”

Some Democrats seized on the comments, claiming Amodei said he supported impeachment.

In a statement clarifying his remarks, Amodei said: “The House and Senate have both unanimously supported the resolution (pdf) expressing the sense of Congress that the whistleblower complaint received on August 12, 2019, by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, should be transmitted immediately to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.”

“It is also accurate that the White House supports this same resolution. In no way, shape, or form, did I indicate support for impeachment,” he said about his phone call with reporters.

Amodei said that he completely agrees with a statement from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), who told KTVN on Thursday that she wouldn’t speculate on the results of the inquiry.

“I think from all of that information, we have to follow the facts and figure out what happened here,” Cortez Masto said.

“I’m not going to speculate other than I know this—I take very seriously my constitutional duty at that point as the Trier of Fact in the senate to take very seriously the information that comes forward and how it is tried.”

Amodei said that anyone who “thinks that somehow there is a vote to convict before the process has played out—as called for by the resolution unanimously supported by everyone concerned—is simply, individual fantasy.”

Referring to Trump’s consistent problem of having words twisted by news outlets, Amodei added: “I now have a full appreciation of how the President feels. Have a nice weekend.”

No House Republicans have said they support impeachment, while 223 members of the Democratic caucus say they support the impeachment inquiry into Trump. Some of them stated they support impeachment even before the inquiry is completed.

Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) has joined Democrats in calling for impeachment. He left the Republican party earlier this year.