Republican who voted to impeach Trump says he’s buying body armor amid fears of violence

Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump on Wednesday, says he’s buying body armor and altering his routine amid fears of more violence following last week’s deadly riot at the Capitol.

MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson asked the freshman lawmaker on Thursday morning whether potential threats to his safety factored into his decision to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the assault.

“To answer your question, that did not factor into my decision. I think you have to set that aside. I don’t believe in giving an assassin’s veto, an insurrectionist veto, a heckler’s veto,” Meijer said. “If we let that guide decisions, then you’re cowering to the mob.”

“When it comes to my family’s safety, that’s something we’ve been planning for and preparing for,” he continued, adding that some of his colleagues now travel with armed escorts and are altering their routines and working to get body armor of their own.

“It’s sad that we have to get to that point, but our expectation is that someone may try to kill us,” he said.

When Jackson specifically asked Meijer if he was trying to get armed security, alter his routes or purchasing bulletproof armor, he said, “I am.”

“That’s something we’re all kind of working together because obviously, we saw what happened on Jan. 6, and the fact that there are 20,000 National Guardsmen in D.C. right now, there is a feeling that there is not control here and we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Meijer said.

“We weren’t expecting for the Capitol to get overrun for the first time in 200 years, and so in this unprecedented environment with this unprecedented fear of divisiveness and hatred, we have to account for every scenario,” he added.

The House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump over his role in the riot at the Capitol, which led to five deaths and dozens of arrest, making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

Other GOP lawmakers had previously told The Hill that threats of violence toward them and their families could factor into their decisions on whether to impeach Trump.