WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan says he's looking at a possible run for the presidency after President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that his authority over the United States is "total."

Amash, a former Republican who left the party last summer after sparring frequently with Trump and calling for his impeachment, said the president again has gone too far in asserting his power and said on Twitter he was considering a run himself.

"Americans who believe in limited government deserve another option," Amash said in a Twitter post on Monday evening. A short time later, after someone remarked that Amash should run, he responded that he is "looking at it closely this week."

It was not immediately known whether Amash was considering running as an independent or as a possible third-party candidate.

Amash, who lives in Cascade Township in west Michigan and has represented a district that includes Grand Rapids since 2011, had indicated he planned to run for reelection as an independent after leaving the Republican Party last summer.

At the time, speculation was high that Amash — who said he considered the partisanship shown by both parties in Washington to be toxic — might consider a long-shot presidential run as an independent or third-party candidate, but he had made no moves in that direction.

Trump's remarks at the White House on Monday surprised many people. Even though he said he would work with governors regarding how and when to lift orders shutting down economic activity and social gatherings in response to the coronavirus pandemic, he added — both in Twitter remarks and at a White House briefing — that ultimately the authority to lift the orders was his.

But under the Constitution, police powers used to order the prohibitions fall to the states and their governors, not the president. Even some of the president's allies, such as U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, pushed back on the claim, saying on Twitter the president does not have "absolute power."

The remarks renewed Amash's frequent criticism of Trump, whose impeachment Amash called for in 2019 after reading special counsel Robert Mueller's report into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election.

Amash, a constitutional lawyer, concluded that the report indicated Trump had obstructed justice in the investigation and should face impeachment. Trump replied that Amash was a "loser" and was looking for attention, and other Republicans quickly distanced themselves from Amash.

Late last year, Amash, by then an independent, voted for impeachment on the question of whether Trump wrongly asked the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee facing Trump in the November election.

Amash has, throughout his career, railed against government overreach in both parties. Just this weekend, he took to Twitter to complain about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's expanded stay-at-home order, arguing that it went too far in limiting people's options.

More:Rep. Justin Amash blasts Whitmer stay-at-home order, tells her 'to immediately reassess'

"As a federal official, I do my best to stay out of state politics," Amash said. "But I have a constitutional duty to ensure states don’t trample on the rights of the people. @GovWhitmer’s latest order goes too far and will erode confidence in her leadership. She should immediately reassess it."

He said Monday night that Trump doesn't understand the concept of federalism in the Constitution that reserves power to the states.

To underscore the point, on Tuesday, Amash and Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-New Jersey, along with Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minnesota, introduced a House resolution saying simply, "The House of Representatives affirms that when someone is the president of the United States, their authority is not total."

"We can only pass things with unanimous consent these days, so I'm curious if anyone will object," Malinowksi said in a post retweeted by Amash.

If Amash were to run for president as an independent, he would face a tough road: In order to get on the ballot across the U.S. he would have to meet requirements that vary from state to state and could be tough with the pandemic still going on. For instance, in Michigan, he would have to get at least 30,000 petition signatures by July 16 in order to get on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Running as a third-party candidate would be somewhat easier in terms of getting on the ballot and there has been speculation that Amash could try to win the Libertarian Party's nomination at its convention, currently scheduled for May 21 in Austin, Texas.

However, Amash has not taken part to date in the party's state conventions and there are other candidates who have more of a history with the party, including former California Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, who ran as the party's vice presidential nominee in 2012, and lawyer Jacob Hornberger, who founded the Future of Freedom Foundation, a group that advocates for smaller government and free markets.

Dan Fishman, the Libertarian Party's executive director, said some party members may have questions about Amash's long tenure as a Republican but acknowledged he has a recognizable brand that could help him.

"He has literally been in the belly of the beast," said Fishman. "He has visibility and he has experience in how government actually runs."

Contact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.