A House Freedom Caucus founder, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, said Tuesday that a fellow member of the most conservative Republican group, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, has hurt his leadership role on civil liberties protections by endorsing government spying on the Trump campaign.
“Justin was viewed as a leader on protecting civil liberties, and now he’s siding with the very people, the FBI, who spied on the Trump campaign at least twice,” Jordan told the Washington Examiner.
Jordan said Amash is “absolutely wrong” to call for impeachment proceedings against the president. Amash, a libertarian, is the first member to side with progressive Democrats seeking to impeach Trump over the findings in the Mueller report.
Amash said the Mueller report “reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”
Jordan strongly disagreed on Tuesday.
“I think Justin is wrong and so does every member of the Freedom Caucus we talked to,” Jordan said. “My guess is every single member disagrees with Justin and like me, strongly disagrees with his assessment.”
Amash has long opposed government surveillance operations used to counter terrorism or crime and has been an outspoken advocate of reining in surveillance practices.
But Jordan said Amash is essentially siding with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, who now serve as television analysts and who are defending the surveillance tactics used on the Trump campaign.
“I think now it’s going to be tough for him to be a leader on those issues at all,” Jordan said.
[Related: House Freedom Caucus condemns Amash for backing impeachment]
