Independent Justin Amash joins with Democrats to approve impeachment resolution

Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, a former Republican turned independent, voted with House Democrats to approve a resolution to formalize the procedures of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The final vote on the resolution was 232-196, passing largely on party lines.

Amash, who left the Republican Party in July, joined his Democratic colleagues to support the resolution, which outlines the procedural details for how the House will move its impeachment inquiry into its next phase.

“This president will be in power for only a short time, but excusing his misbehavior will forever tarnish your name,” Amash tweeted before the vote. “To my Republican colleagues: Step outside your media and social bubble. History will not look kindly on disingenuous, frivolous, and false defenses of this man.”

Not a single House Republican broke rank to support the resolution.

Amash, a libertarian conservative, was first elected to Congress during the Tea Party wave of 2010. He was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, but after Trump was elected to office, Amash found himself breaking with his conservative allies who have embraced the President.

In May, the Michigan congressman became the first sitting Republican lawmaker to say he believes Trump committed “impeachable conduct.”

When Amash quit the GOP, he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he had grown “disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it.”

On Thursday, two Democrats, Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Collin Peterson, split with their party to vote against the resolution.