Trump and Amash have criticized each other multiple times in recent months after Amash claimed actions Trump took that were outlined in the Mueller report constituted impeachable conduct.
Trump said that Amash leaving the GOP was “great news.”
“Great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress is ‘quitting’ the Party,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Referencing the findings by the Mueller team, Trump added: “No Collusion, No Obstruction!”
He then denounced Amash, who is facing a bevy of primary challengers and who has seen his chances for re-election plummet in polls.
“Knew he couldn’t get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!” Trump added.
“Americans have allowed government officials, under assertions of expediency and party unity, to ignore the most basic tenets of our constitutional order: separation of powers, federalism and the rule of law. The result has been the consolidation of political power and the near disintegration of representative democracy,” Amash wrote.
“These are consequences of a mindset among the political class that loyalty to party is more important than serving the American people or protecting our governing institutions. The parties value winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost. Instead of acting as an independent branch of government and serving as a check on the executive branch, congressional leaders of both parties expect the House and Senate to act in obedience or opposition to the president and their colleagues on a partisan basis,” he continued.
“Most Americans are not rigidly partisan and do not feel well represented by either of the two major parties. In fact, the parties have become more partisan in part because they are catering to fewer people, as Americans are rejecting party affiliation in record numbers,” he added.
Though Amash didn’t mention the president in the op-ed, he denounced Trump repeatedly earlier this year, writing that the president “has engaged in impeachable conduct.”
Amash was the only Republican to say that Trump should be impeached, a path that has garnered support from the fringes of the Democratic party but not the core.
Amash said that he also believed Attorney General William Barr, who authorized a lightly redacted version of the Mueller report to be released to the public, “deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report” and that “few members of Congress have read the report.”
Trump responded by saying Amash was “a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy.”
“If he actually read the biased Mueller Report, ‘composed’ by 18 Angry Dems who hated Trump, he would see that it was nevertheless strong on NO COLLUSION and, ultimately, NO OBSTRUCTION.”
Trump added, “Anyway, how do you Obstruct when there is no crime and, in fact, the crimes were committed by the other side? Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents [sic] hands!”
