Newly elected Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) said Monday he was “strongly” considering voting to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol as House Democrats announced they will vote to impeach Trump for the second time on Wednesday.
Meijer told CNN’s Erin Burnett the final straw was Trump’s refusal to condemn the rioters and his release of a video ― as the violence still raged inside the Capitol ― in which the president told the mob “we love you, you’re special.”
“No condemnation, no urge to bring things back,” Meijer said of Trump’s response. “To me, that was an abject failure of leadership and something just broke then.”
Burnett asked Meijer, an Iraq War veteran who replaced retired Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash this month, what would make him cast a vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment. Democrats are bringing a single charge, incitement of insurrection.
Meijer explained that some in Congress are concerned about the impeachment process, the timing and the public reaction. But “I have not heard anyone arguing with the merits,” he said.
“To me, this is not the timing that is ideal,” Meijer continued. “I would prefer that we have a more fulsome investigation into what happened. Most of what I know about Jan. 6 came either from personal experience or from Twitter. But at the end of the day, I think it is obvious that the president is no longer qualified to hold that office.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-lIll.) last week became the first congressional Republican to openly demand Trump’s removal from the White House via the 25th Amendment.
Vice President Mike Pence, however, reportedly opposes using the process. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has also said he will consider the impeachment of Trump.
Watch Meijer’s comments here: