After becoming the first Republican congressman to call for President Trump’s impeachment, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash now has a pro-Trump primary challenger.

State Rep. Jim Lower announced the 2020 challenge against the five-term congressman in a statement Sunday.



Jim Lower of Cedar Lake speaks to reporters in the House chamber in Lansing, Mich. (David Eggert/AP)



“I am a Pro-Trump, Pro-Life, Pro-Jobs, Pro-2nd Amendment, Pro-Family Values Republican,” Lower said. “Justin Amash’s tweets yesterday calling for President Trump’s impeachment show how out of touch he is with the truth and how out of touch he is with people he represents.”

On Saturday Amash penned a long series of tweets arguing that Trump committed impeachable offenses during special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation. He also knocked Attorney General William Barr’s interpretation of Mueller’s findings, which concluded that the president did not obstruct justice.

“Contrary to Barr’s portrayal, Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment,” wrote Amash, who said he believes that Trump obstructed justice during the course of the investigation.

Trump responded to remarks by calling Amash a “loser” who plays into the hands of Democrats in Congress.

[ Related: RNC chairwoman attacks GOP congressman Amash over Trump impeachment tweets]



Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy. If he actually read the biased Mueller Report, “composed” by 18 Angry Dems who hated Trump,.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019



“If he actually read the biased Mueller Report, ‘composed’ by 18 Angry Dems who hated Trump, he would see that it was nevertheless strong on NO COLLUSION and, ultimately, NO OBSTRUCTION,” Trump tweeted. “Anyway, how do you Obstruct when there is no crime and, in fact, the crimes were committed by the other side? Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!”

The same day Lower made the announcement, he changed his Twitter and Facebook profile pictures to a photo of him holding a microphone with a Trump 2020 banner hanging behind him.

