Meijer: GOP Shirking Blame for Jan. 6 'Fundamentally Un-conservative'

(From June 10, 2022) Representative Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican, made history within 10 days of officially being sworn in as a House member, becoming the first freshman lawmaker to vote to impeach a president of their own political party.

Meijer didn't envision facing such a momentous decision when he ran for Congress, but he ultimately joined with nine other House Republicans and all House Democrats to vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump. The GOP lawmaker will now face off against a Trump-backed opponent, John Gibbons, in an August primary.

Despite that consequential vote coloring his tenure in Congress, Meijer has strived to address government's "dysfunction" despite the heightened political polarization. He told Newsweek that's he's "focused on trying to go beneath the symptoms and focus on how" lawmakers can "begin to tackle some of the underlying causes, and some of the reasons why our federal government fails at its job."

"There's understandable frustration from all Americans that things aren't getting done in Congress," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Republican says he doesn't have any regrets about his vote to impeach Trump after the events of January 6, 2021. He thinks politicians need to stop putting "their jersey on first." However, he also is skeptical that the House select committee investigating the violence of that day will be successful at changing many voters' views of what occurred. (READ MORE at Newsweek)