GOP lawmaker clarifies he doesn’t back impeachment after voicing support for inquiry

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) is clarifying his statement on his support for an inquiry into President Trump, saying that while he supports the oversight process he does not currently back impeachment. 

Amodei expressed concern over Trump’s call with Ukraine, telling  reporters on a call Friday that the House should “put it through the process and see what happens,” according to the audio of the call released by The Nevada Independent. 

He later issued a statement after the story was published saying, “In no way, shape, or form, did I indicate support for impeachment.”{mosads}

Amodei stands by his call for an oversight process, which he and his office are trying to defend as different than the House’s impeachment inquiry. 

Amodei spokesman Logan Tucker told The Washington Post the difference between an oversight process and supporting “Pelosi’s inquiry” is that “then you stand with the 223 Democrats who have made clear that if we were to vote right this second today to impeach Trump, they would vote yes before any sort of process has transpired.”

“Again, prior to any such process playing out, the congressman does not support impeachment in any way, shape or form,” Tucker told the Post. 

But the overwhelming majority of House Democrats have said they support an impeachment inquiry, not the impeachment of Trump ahead of investigating the allegations. 

Just 28 Democrats said they would impeach the president right now, the Post reports. 

Almost all House Democrats have come out in support of the impeachment inquiry, as does independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), who quit the Republican Party on July 4. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) officially launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump last week over accounts of his call with Ukraine’s leader. 

A partial memorandum of the call released by the White House shows Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 candidate, and his son Hunter.