MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Member of Congress Justin Amash, the most avid critic of President Donald Trump in the Republican party (GOP), who backed the president's impeachment in May, announced on Thursday that he was leaving the party, according to his op-ed for The Washington Post newspaper.

"Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party. No matter your circumstance, I'm asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I'm asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it", Amash wrote.

Amash's name hit headlines back in 2016 when he was listed among the Republicans who opposed the candidacy of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Since then, Amash has been repeatedly at odds within the GOP.

"True to Washington’s fears Americans have allowed government officials, under assertions of expediency and party unity, to ignore the most basic tenets of our constitutional order: separation of powers, federalism and the rule of law. The result has been the consolidation of political power and the near disintegration of representative democracy", he continued in his op-ed.

In May, Amash's discontent with the government's policies reached its peak after he said that Trump was "engaged in impeachable conduct." His statement came after he read the then Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. The call drew outrage from his colleagues within the party.