One county GOP in Michigan has voted to censure freshman Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI-03) after Meijer voted to impeach former president Donald Trump alongside the entire Democrat Party.
“It is with great sadness and solemnity that we write to issue this formal Letter of Censure and to condemn your recent vote in favor of House Resolution 24 impeaching President Donald J. Trump,” a letter from the Calhoun County Republican Executive Committee said.
A censure is a formal condemnation.
The censure letter noted that Meijer voted for impeachment despite his multiple public statements claiming that he did not believe Trump’s speech on January 6 led to the later events inside the Capitol Building. The resolution to impeach Trump though, for which Meijer voted, stated the opposite.
That impeachment resolution also accused Trump of improper behavior on a phone call made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) regarding the election results in the Peach State, which was leaked to the press. In the censure letter, the Calhoun County officials condemned Meijer for voting to impeach Trump over that phone call, given that there were no official public hearings to determine whether there was actually any wrongdoing.
The letter also said that there has been public testimony in the wake of the mostly peaceful January 6 protests that law enforcement, and perhaps even Congress, knew days in advance that angry protestors coming to the Capitol on that day.
The Calhoun County Executive Committee also accused Meijer of dangerously lowering the bar for impeachment, and knowingly driving partisan division with his impeachment vote.
“As our membership diligently debated what course of action to take in this matter, it ultimately came down to the fact that, without so much as a hearing, with few settled facts at your disposal, no due process, and with a key charge of the impeachment resolution that you clearly disagreed with, you still chose to join Democrats in a partisan rush to judgment in an attempt to remove a president that was already set to leave office in just seven days,” the letter said.
“While it remains our desire to work with you in service to the people of Calhoun County, we cannot do so without open and transparent dialogue, which in this case requires our harsh condemnation of your action which betrayed the trust of so many who supported you and violates our faith in our most basic constitutional values and protections,” the letter continued.
It finished by inviting Meijer to address the group in person.
Meijer was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. He was joined by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI-06), the other Michigan Republican to vote for Trump’s impeachment.
As The Detroit News reported, the Calhoun County censure came days after he narrowly escaped a censure from Republicans in Grand Rapids, where his congressional district is located.
Shortly after voting to impeach Trump, Meijer, an heir to the multi-billion dollar Meijer Supermarket chain, drew his first primary challenger for the 2022 election cycle.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Peter Meijer” by Peter Meijer.
