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Republican Rep. Meijer says Trump impeachment vote could end his political career

"I think it's time that we acknowledge that what happened on Jan. 6 was a betrayal of what had been accomplished over the past four years," said Michigan GOP Rep. Peter Meijer.

Published: January 18, 2021 8:17am

Updated: January 18, 2021 2:34pm

Freshman GOP Rep. Peter Meijer is acknowledging his vote last week to impeach President Trump could have ended his political career.

"I may very well have," the Michigan lawmaker said Sunday on ABC’s "This Week." "But I think it's also important that we have elected leaders who are not thinking solely about what's in their individual self-interest, not what is going to be politically expedient, but what we actually need for the country."

Meijer was among 10 Republican House members to join Democrats in the Democrat-controlled House to impeach Trump on one article, related to his speech to supporters before the U.S. Capitol Building was seized Jan. 6.

Meijer on Sunday acknowledged Trump's accomplishments over the past four years but suggested he went too far with some of his rhetoric.

"I think it's time that we acknowledge that what happened on Jan. 6 was a betrayal of what had been accomplished over the past four years, that it was a culmination of a politics that at all too often, you know, fanned flames rather than focusing on building and governing," Meijer said. 

"The president brought some necessary energy. He brought some necessary ideas. He shook the tree. He was a change agent. The challenge was that he didn't know when to stop, and he didn't draw a line, and to me, political violence is the line that we must draw."

Meijer said last week that he was buying body armor and changing his routine due to fears of more violence at the Capitol, according to The Hill newspaper.