Trump Campaign Snubs GOP’s Amodei After Impeachment Remarks

By Michelle L. Price
Associated Press

---

LAS VEGAS — Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada appears to have lost a spot helming President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in the state after comments he made last month about the impeachment inquiry.

Amdoei, who chaired Trump’s campaign in Nevada in 2016, said Wednesday that he had been approached by Trump’s team earlier this year about taking on the job again in 2020 and said he’d be happy to. He said the campaign asked him for a statement that would be released when the announcement was made, but that was the last he heard from the campaign.

Trump’s campaign announced Tuesday that the state’s Republican former attorney general and top Republicans in the state Legislature would chair the president’s Nevada team.

Amodei had to clarify his remarks last month when he was asked on a phone call with reporters about the impeachment inquiry and said, “Let’s put it through the process and see what happens.” After calls from GOP leaders and posts on Facebook that called him a “traitor,” Amodei said he did not support the impeachment process but wanted House committees to investigate a whistleblower’s complaint that touched off the process.

Asked Wednesday why he was not chairing the Trump campaign, the four-term congressman said in a statement, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I can only assume that a fake news story from a few weeks ago has obviously created some discomfort for them, so they acted accordingly,” he said. “In today’s political climate, even if a story is proven incorrect, there clearly isn’t any margin for even a wrongful claim.”

Trump’s campaign did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

Amodei said Michael McDonald, the chairman of Nevada’s Republican Party, told him Wednesday morning that he “also knew nothing about the change” until minutes before the new campaign headquarters opened in Reno” on Tuesday night.