Finals. We think that the game should be played with exuberance. A 15yearold american phenom wows at wimbledon. Female athletes are standing out and speaking up. Hello, im jake tapper in washington with the state of the union celebrating the nations independence. We have a lot to get to. Including expression of regret from joe biden. But we begin this week with a new deck lar is of independence, a sitting republican congressman announcing he is leaving the Republican Party. In an oped released on the fourth of july, justin amash writes, ive become disenchanted with Party Politics and frightened by what i see from. It the twoparty system has evolved in a threat to american principles and institutions. Amash had the most outspoken republican critic of President Trump becoming the first and only republican lawmaker to call for impeachment proceedings after reading the Mueller Report. The president ub unsurprisingly called him on twitter a total loser and great news for the Republican Party. And newly minted independent congressman justin amash of michigan joins us now live since making the decision. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Thanks, jake. You didnt mention President Trump in your oped but believe the gop stood for limited government and Economic Freedom until recent years. Do you think you would be leaving the Republican Party if donald trump were not president . Yes, i do. And ive had concerns with the Republican Party for several years. Ive had concerns with the party system generally. When i first got to congress i thought i could change things from the inside. But as ive spent time there, ive seen that not only me, i dont think there is anyone in there who could change the system. It is pretty rigid. Its top down. It comes down from leadership to the bottom. And over the years it has gotten more rigid. So it is more difficult now to change the process than it was even a few years ago. Do you think it is fair to say that President Trump and your fellow republicans unblinking support for President Trump was the straw that broke the camels back . I think this term in congress has really shown how bad it can get. When i started the House Freedom caucus, one of the Founding Members, what we were fighting for was better process. We were fighting for a more open government, a more Accountable Government and wanted members to have a voice in the process so that wed had a deliberative body and wed be able to represent people back home. Whatever the outcome. Sometimes the outcomes are more conservative and sometimes they are more progressive but we wanted to open tup. But over the years, ive seen that people are just falling in line behind the leaders, including people in my own caucus. Which i left. So it has gotten worse and worse and i think this was the term that really broke it for me. The president lashed out on you on Twitter Thursday after your announcement leaving the Republican Party saying, quote, great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest and disloyal men in congress is, quote, quitting the party. No collusion, no obstruction. And knew he couldnt run again in the great state of michigan and already being challenged and a total loser. I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond. I dont have a response and it is what the president does and says and most people understand that is now how people are supposed to talk about each other and to each other and i think hes really identified what i talked about in my oped which is he thinks that people owe loyalty to him. But people are elected to congress with an oath to support and defend the constitution. Not an oath to support and defend one person, the president who happens to be from your own party. Do you think that kind of attack, personal, nasty, namecalling, do you think fearing that kind of attack is why more of your republican colleagues dont speak out when they see things they dont like from the president . Yeah. It is a big part of it. Theyre afraid theyll be attacked. Theyre afraid that people back home who are listening to a certain forms of media will say, well, the president is right, this guy is a terrible person and we need to go after him. So it is a combination of things. I dont think a lot of the partisan discord and the rest started with President Trump. It has been going on for years and gotten worse in recent years but hes helping to fuel it and making it worse and making it more difficult for people to be independent in congress. You stand to lose some political power by leaving the Republican Party. The vice chair of the republican conference congressman mark walker tweeted, quote, amash left the Freedom Caucus and now leaving the gop. The house gop never left justin amash we simply ran out of space for his ego however we should make sure he leaves the republican conference and his committee. What would you say to a supporter or constituent who said, by leaving the party, you are hurting your Congressional District because you no longer are going to have potentially do you anticipate youll be kicked off the oversight committee. I anticipate i may be kicked off and that is okay. I understand the consequences of doing what im doing. At the end of the day, though. Ive done this for several years. Ive worked within the Republican Party. Ive tried to make changes for within. My colleagues have tried to make changes from within. It hasnt worked. It is not working for anyone. Im not the only one tried. I have colleagues trying every day and frustrated but they are not speaking out the same way. I hope they will speak out. But it is trial to try Something Different and it is time to be a committed independent representative for my district so that everyone back home knows where i stand. Because right now when you go back home, you hear republicans who dont trust you because youre not aligned with the president and you hear democrats who dont trust you because youre a republican and most of the people in my district do trust me, they respect me, they support me. And i want those people to know that im there for them, im there to represent every Single Person in the community. But not having any power on a committee, doesnt that hurt your ability to serve your constituents . In todays politics the committee have almost no power. And i want people at home to understand that. Everything is really run top down. When i say that, i mean it literally. The speaker of the house very much controls the entire process. The speaker decides what comes out of committee. When speaker ryan, our republican speaker was there, i was on several committees and nothing ever came out of the committees that wasnt approved by speaker ryan. So let me ask you about. That because i talked to bend bon buck and one of the Reasons Congress isnt functioning is because of the Freedom Caucus. That is the perspective of people in Republican Leadership as im sure you know. He said you cant have an honest conversation about polarization in the last five years without acknowledging the role of the Freedom Caucus and they insisted loyalty to their own tribe and drove this toxic notion that compromise is treason. And youre a Founding Member of the Freedom Caucus. What is your response to that . Do you think the Freedom Caucus deserves any blame for how things are going in congress right now . I dont want to speak for the Freedom Caucus because im no longer a member. But when it was founded the purpose was to open up the process and the speaker of the house have it totally backward. They were closing down the entire system and members of the Freedom Caucus said we need to ban together to make sure we open this up and offer amendments on the house floor. Under speaker ryan for example, for the first time in congressional history, we had a whole congress where not a Single Member of congress is able to go to the house floor and offer an amendment. It was the first time in history, it was the most closed congress in history and now under speaker pell os kbri we have the same problem. Were not allowed to go to the house floor and offer amendments. So it is closed down and we need to open it up and sometimes you have to form a group like the Freedom Caucus to stand up to the establishment in washington. To give their perspective, for instance, the Senate PassedImmigration Reform during the obama bills and bipartisan bill and passed with 60 something votes and Speaker Boehner wont bring it up because the House Freedom caucus would insist on you cant bring up any legislation unless you know that a majority of republicans are going to support it. And for that reason, there wasnt a free and open process. Well that was never the philosophy of the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus is about opening up the process. I cant speak for individual members who may have felt that way. But the Freedom Caucus is about opening up the process and ensuring that the speaker allowed us to offer amendments and offer suggestions because it is supposed to be a deliberative body. Were not supposed to take things and pass them, were supposed to debate and represent the American People. You said people turned into zombies when they come to washington because they tell you things privately differently than what they say publicly. What are you hearing from fellow republicans privately, you dont have to mention names, about your decision and about being a republican member of congress in the trump era . Well, i get people sending me text messages, people calling me saying thank you for what youre doing. Great oped. When i was discussing impeachment, i had fellow colleagues and other republicans highlevel officials contacting me saying thank you for what you are doing. So there are a lot of republicans out there saying these things privately but not publicly. And i think that is a problem for our country. It is a problem for the Republican Party. It is a problem for the Democratic Party when people arent allowed to speak out. So i think we need the American People to stand up and say, hey, enough is enough. Weve had with these two parties trying to ram their partisan nonsense down our throat week after week. We want a person to go represent us and be open and represent the entire community. Are you running for reelection as an independent to congress . Yes, i am. And you think you could win as an independent . Yes. Im very confident about that. What about the possibility of your running for president as a libertarian or some or some other ticket. I asked you about that four or five months ago and you didnt rule it out. Is it possible you would run for president . I still wouldnt rule anything like that out. I believe that i have to use my skills, my public influence where it serves the country best and i believe i have to defend the constitution in whichever way works best and if that means doing something else, then i do that. But i feel confident about running in my district, i feel a close tie to my community, i feel i care a lot about my community and i want to represent them in congress. When do you think youll make a decision about a possible president ial run . It is something people talk about all of the time. It is not something that is right on my radar right now. So i couldnt tell you. What do you think about what does it feel like when you have first of all, i think you made your announcement about impeachment and donald trump jr. On twitter basically threatened that he would support whoever primaried you. And then you announced you are not running as a republican. And President Trump issues the tweet, this is the most powerful family in the country right now. And theyre gunning for you. What does that feel like just as a person . It doesnt scare me. I feel confident in what i do. I have people back home who support me. I have people back back home who care about me and back in my district people are thanking me for what im doing. People want open and honest representation and want people to come to congress and work with integrity and what the president is doing is actually lowering the tone across the country, hes harming civil discourse, creating partisan divide and enhancing it and i think that is very dangerous for our country and i dont think a lot of people appreciate it. I think people put up with it because the economy is good right now. But i dont think theyd put up with it if things went south. So youve come out in support of beginning the proceedings of impeachment and there is no point of bringing formal articles of impeachment because Speaker Pelosi doesnt support it. Is she making a mistake . Do you think the democrats should be starting impeachment proceedings based on the Mueller Report, what is in there about potential obstruction of justice which is the case you laid out friday, a pins pelled moral position shes making a mistake. From a strategic position shes making a mistake. If she believes as i do there is impeachable conduct, then she should say so and tell the American People were going to move forward with impeachment hearings and potentially articles of impeachment. When she says things like, oh, i think that we need to have the strongest case before we go forward. What shes telling the American People is she doesnt think there is a strong case. If she doesnt think that then she shouldnt open her mouth in the first place and say she thinks there is impeachable conduct. I believe there is a strong case and if she does she should move forward and make sure the American People understand. People at home dont read the Mueller Report. People dont have time to read the 448 page report. And they expect congress to do the work for them. They want Speaker Pelosi to do the work and other members to do the work and if she doesnt want to go forward then we have a big problem. Last question, how many of your republican colleagues do you think have read the Mueller Report . I think it is probably less than 15 and i would say that is probably the case on both sides of the aisle. Do you think that once anyone reads it, they would reach the same conclusion as you . I think a large number of them would reach the same conclusion. There are some who could reach different conclusions. But when you look at the conduct and the evidence presented, i think basically anyone would be indicted for that conduct. Anyone who is not the president of the United States. Congressman justin amash, independent of michigan, good to see you. Thank you for joining us. Appreciate it. 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