Michigan GOP Rep Meijer tries to defend anti-Trump impeachment vote, angers voters

LANSING, Michigan – Michigan Representative Peter Meijer, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach then President Donald Trump for the deadly attack on Capitol Hill, defended his decision while taking sharp criticism from voters Wednesday night.

“What we witnessed on Capitol Hill – the attempted insurgency, the involvement of a sitting US president spreading the lies that led to it – required a significant response,” he said during its first town hall, a virtual event in which more than 400 people participated. looked on Zoom or Facebook. The first-year lawmaker spoke from his office in Washington, DC

Two voters who asked questions said they were deeply disappointed with Meijer, a 33-year-old Iraq War veteran who represents the 3rd District in western Michigan.

“Why don’t you do what your constituents wanted you to do?” said Cindy Witke. “I went against the people who said not to vote for you because I believed in you. I lost that belief.”

“Why don’t you do what your constituents wanted you to do?”

– Cindy Witke, Meijer constituent

Nancy Eardley accused Meijer, the only first-term lawmaker to back impeachment on January 13, of betraying the district within two weeks of taking office.

“I don’t know if you can really say much that will never change your mind and work to eliminate you after two years,” she said, claiming that no court had considered the evidence of electoral fraud.

There was no widespread fraud, as confirmed by several poll officials and former Trump-appointed attorney general William Barr.

“We needed leadership”

Meijer said Trump told “two fundamental lies” after losing to Democrat Joe Biden – mistakenly claiming that the election was stolen and that January 6, the day Congress counted the electoral votes, was luck. ” to stop the flight “. Trump, who had urged his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before they invaded the Capitol, took nearly 2.5 hours to post a video urging them to return home despite the riot became fatal, Meijer said.

“It was a time when we needed leadership and the president, in my opinion, didn’t show it,” he said.

A participant, Kim Reeder, thanked Meijer for his vote.

“I did not vote for you, but at the moment I am delighted that you are my representative,” she said.

Trump is the first president in American history to be impeached twice. His trial in the Senate will begin next week.

The impeachment took up half the hour-long forum. Other speakers asked about the upcoming federal COVID-19 relief plan, student debt cancellation, gun rights and the role of drug benefit managers in drug costs.

Main Challenger

At least one Republican has already vowed to challenge Meijer in the 2022 primary: Tom Norton, who finished third behind Meijer in a five-a-side primary last year.

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Meijer in November won the open and long-standing GOP seat by almost 6 percentage points over a Democrat, a larger margin than Trump’s 3-point victory there.

Meijer admitted that a majority of Republicans in his district, “perhaps a strong majority”, are upset by his impeachment decision.

“It weighed on me. It was one of the reasons I finally felt sickened to have to vote,” he said. “How do we balance that immediate feeling with what we need to do as a country, what I think my party needs to do and where I hope we can go?”