A Republican congressman who's been going hard after President Trump, calling his actions "impeachable," made a big move Monday, stepping down from a group he co-founded. Politico reports that on Monday night, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash—deemed the "lone-wolf GOP Trump critic" by the Washington Post—quit the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 30 or so hard-line conservatives and libertarians formed in 2015. "I have the highest regard for them and they're my close friends," Amash, a libertarian who's been known to previously run contrary to his party's line, tells CNN. "I didn't want to be a further distraction." Fellow caucus member Jim Jordan appeared on Fox News' Ingraham Angle on Monday night and said Amash's decision was a mutual one that came after multiple talks between Amash and caucus chair Mark Meadows, per Fox News.
Members of the caucus have harshly criticized Amash in recent weeks for his remarks on Trump. "Justin Amash's conclusions are poorly informed and fatally flawed and don't represent the views of any of the Freedom Caucus members that I'm aware of," Meadows told reporters last month, per the Post. Still, Amash tells CNN his departure from the caucus wasn't against his will, and that there were no hard feelings on anyone's part after Monday's caucus meeting, where he announced his decision. "It was a positive meeting. It wasn't negative," he says. Amash has previously said he hasn't ruled out challenging Trump in the 2020 election as a libertarian candidate. (More Justin Amash stories.)
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