Video: African American Voter Calls out Rep. Justin Amash for ‘Demonizing’ President Trump

Video: African American Voter Calls out Rep. Justin Amash for ‘Demonizing’ President Trump
Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., followed by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leaving a closed-door strategy session on March 28, 2017. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
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An African American voter called out Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), the sole Republican to have accused President Donald Trump of “impeachable conduct,” for demonizing Trump during the congressman’s town hall in Michigan on May 28.

“From what I’m seeing, for the black community and minorities, is that Trump is good for America,” the man began, according to a video by 13 On Your Side ABC. “And I’m wondering why the Republicans and Democrats are fighting him so much when he’s doing such a good job?”

The man continued, “You’re demonizing him on something that you know is not true. 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.”

So far 44 Democratic lawmakers have called for impeachment proceedings to begin after the White House resisted various Democrat-led probes targeting Trump, his family, his past business dealings, and former White House staff as of May 30, according to a tally maintained by The Hill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she’s against impeachment and wields the power to initiate the proceedings.

Some of their probes include seeking the president’s tax returns, personal bank records, and the full declassification of the partially redacted Russia report by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump and Republicans believe these probes are aimed to impede Trump’s agenda, unearth embarrassing information on the president and his family, and score political points for the 2020 elections. In response, Trump has said he plans to fight “all the subpoenas” by House Democrats.

Amash responded by saying that he believes there are people who disagree with the voter’s remarks and then said that “nobody’s demonizing” the president.

“I read a report and gave my assessment,” Amash said, adding that it was Trump who is demonizing people on Twitter.

“Somehow if anyone challenges any policy position he has or says there’s something in the Mueller report we should look at, that is somehow attacking him or demonizing him and that’s totally ridiculous, of course,” the congressman added.

Amash became the only Republican congressman to call for Trump’s impeachment on May 18 after posting a series of messages on Twitter accusing Trump of “impeachable conduct” and calling on Congress to impeach the president.

The Michigan congressman said he came to his conclusion after reading the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. The report, which was released on April 18, found that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. Mueller also decided not to file an obstruction of justice charge against the president.

Along with making accusations against Trump, Amash also alleged that Attorney General William Barr intentionally misrepresented the principal conclusions of the special counsel report.

Two days after Amash made his comments, State Rep. Jim Lower (R-Mich.) filed a Republican primary challenge against the Michigan congressman and launched a campaign for Congress on May 20.

“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 in a statement on his campaign website.

“Amash has not only failed to support President Trump as the President works to make the United States stronger and safer, he has now united with radical liberals like Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) to try and bring down our President. He must be replaced and I am going to do it.”

Similarly, military veteran Tom Norton has also announced his bid in the Republican primary against Amash.

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.