(CNN) Rep. Justin Amash on Monday stepped down from the conservative House Freedom Caucus less than a month after becoming the first Republican member of Congress to say President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses.

"I have the highest regard for them and they're my close friends," he told CNN. "I didn't want to be a further distraction for the group."

The House Freedom Caucus is a group of about three dozen hardline conservatives created in 2015. Its members played a key role in ousting then-House Speaker John Boehner that year, and they had a hand in crafting the GOP's ultimately failed American Health Care Act in 2017.

Today, the group is home to some of the President's most ardent defenders, such as Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and current Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina.

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