GOP Congressman Mark Amodei Walks Back Pro-Impeachment Statement

(Image via Twitter)

The media thought it had hit the jackpot on Friday. Here was a Republican congressman saying he supported an impeachment inquiry. Do you know what that means?

BI-PARTISANSHIP!! The Holy Grail of impeachment!

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Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada said on Friday, “I’m a big fan of oversight, so let’s let the committees get to work and see where it goes,” Amodei continued: “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.”

That, of course, is the number one prerequisite for Democrats and the media who want Trump gone. They absolutely need the cover of a few Republican apostates to gain public support for impeachment.

Alas, it was a false alarm for the Dems. Amodei came forward on Saturday to disavow what he said on Friday.

The Hill:

He later issued a statement after the story was published saying, “In no way, shape, or form, did I indicate support for impeachment.”

Amodei stands by his call for an oversight process, which he and his office are trying to defend as different than the House’s impeachment inquiry.

Amodei spokesman Logan Tucker told The Washington Post the difference between an oversight process and supporting “Pelosi’s inquiry” is that “then you stand with the 223 Democrats who have made clear that if we were to vote right this second today to impeach Trump, they would vote yes before any sort of process has transpired.”

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Sorry, Marko, that dog won’t hunt. Trying to parse “oversight” is ludicrous. With the Democrats in charge of the House, what other “oversight” game in town is there but the impeachment inquiry?

“Again, prior to any such process playing out, the congressman does not support impeachment in any way, shape or form,” Tucker told the Post.

But the overwhelming majority of House Democrats have said they support an impeachment inquiry, not the impeachment of Trump ahead of investigating the allegations.

Just 28 Democrats said they would impeach the president right now, the Post reports.

I would gather the congressman heard it loud and clear from the folks back home and he came up with this cockamamie “oversight process” nonsense to hide either his stupidity or his lack of courage.

For, in the end, this is a conscience vote. There will no doubt be some Republicans who see it as their responsibility to impeach Trump just as there will be some Republicans who see it as their job to defend the president to the last. As we saw with past impeachments, a certain gravity descends on the Hill when discussing overturning an election for president. And voting on it becomes a lot more difficult than simple political calculus.

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Amodei jumped the gun. The only people who were ready to hear his doubts were in the media and the political opposition. Now, his walk-back not only disappoints Democrats, but angers Republicans.

It’s a classic case of showing how not to win friends and influence people.

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