Amash expected to lose committee seat after exiting GOP: report

The House GOP is expected to strip Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) of his committee assignment this week following his July 4 announcement that he is leaving the Republican Party, according to Politico.

Amash announced his “independence” from the party in a Washington Post editorial last Thursday, about two months after he announced he supported impeachment proceedings against President Trump after reading former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

{mosads}Amash had previously confirmed he would no longer caucus with the GOP and acknowledged he would likely be booted from the House Oversight and Reform Committee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will have final say on whether to assign him to any new committees, according to Politico.

The Republican Steering Committee will recommend another member to fill the vacancy. Amash has said he will still run for his seat in the Grand Rapids area as an independent in 2020, although in a Sunday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, he declined to rule out a third-party run for president.

Prior to leaving the party, Amash had drawn at least four primary challengers, with Trump reportedly considering campaigning for Republican state Rep. Jim Lower.

Despite widespread condemnation among Amash’s former fellow Republicans for both his pro-impeachment stance and his departure from the party, he told Tapper some have privately thanked him.

“When I was discussing impeachment, I had fellow colleagues and other Republicans, high-level officials, contacting me, saying, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing,’ ” he added. “So there are lots of Republicans out there who are saying these things privately, but they’re not saying it publicly, and I think that’s a problem for our country.”