Eirran Betka-Pope was on her lunch break when she spotted hundreds of Donald Trump supporters protesting outside the office of Rep. Justin Amash, the first Republican on Capitol Hill to say Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the president.
The protesters, who stood on the sidewalk with "Squash Amash" signs, saw his comments as the ultimate betrayal of a president they adore. But for Betka-Pope, a Trump critic, Amash's actions were commendable — and worthy of a counterprotest. The 32-year-old from Grand Rapids, who works in theater and sketch comedy, put on a Trump mask she happened to have in her car and joined the crowd on the sidewalk. She held up a piece of paper that read "I suck."
For the next half hour, Betka-Pope stood silently as some people insulted her. A few passing drivers honked in support. More than one person flashed a middle finger.
FILE - In this May 28, 2019, file photo, Rep. Justin Amash, D-Mich., greets the crowd before holding a town hall meeting at Grand Rapids Christian High School's DeVos Center for Arts and Worship. Democrats may be the biggest winners from Amash’s impeachment stand against President Donald Trump. Amash has left the Republican Party, is running for re-election as an independent and is flirting with a White House bid as a libertarian _ a threat that could wound Trump one more time. (Cory MorseThe Grand Rapids Press via AP)
Betka-Pope happily took the abuse for the congressman. But the one thing the Democrat says she won't do to show her appreciation for Amash is vote for him.
"There are other candidates more aligned with my values," she said.
Amash's is another cautionary tale for GOP lawmakers who consider opposing Trump, whose job approval rating among Republicans has hovered around 90% for the past year, according to Gallup. Those who stand against him quickly find it's a lonely place to be — and may spell the end of their political career. In the era of tribal politics, the worst thing to be may be a politician without a tribe.
The biggest winners to come out of Amash's big stand may be Democrats. Amash ultimately left the GOP , is running for his seat as an independent and is flirting with running for president as a Libertarian — a threat that could wound Trump one more time. More than 200,000 Michigan voters supported a third-party candidate in 2016, when Trump won the state by just over 10,000 votes.
If Amash goes that route, he could help a Democrat win — just as he could if he stays in the race for the Grand Rapids-area House race. His exodus from the GOP has set up a three-way race that could divide right-leaning voters and help the Democratic nominee win what was once a GOP stronghold. Democrats now see it as one of their best chances to pick up a House seat next year.
"I think this was a district everybody was eyeing when we thought we'd be running against one Republican," said Brian Stryker, a Democratic pollster who's working for Hillary Scholten, a Democrat seeking the nomination. "It's better to have two Republicans on the ballot."
Once a bedrock of Republicanism in the state, Kent County has become more Democratic as Grand Rapids and its suburbs have grown diverse and better educated in recent years, thanks to growth in several universities and the medical sector. The birthplace of Gerald Ford and hometown of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos now looks a lot like the politically divided suburban districts Democrats flipped in 2018 to win control of the House.
Democrats and Republicans vying for the seat are both raising money easily, with two Democrats on pace to surpass Amash and one Republican already doing so. In a cruel twist for the congressman, Democrats say they're poised to hammer Amash for the times he voted with his former party, such as his support for a House bill to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Amash, the son of Arab Christian immigrants from Palestine and Syria, has always charted his own path. As a young state lawmaker he earned the nickname "Mr. No," holding a hard line against government spending and what he viewed as overreach. He came to Congress in 2010 with the class of small government, tea party Republicans. He quickly stood out as an ideological purist, even in a class of professed purists.
His willingness to buck GOP leaders earned him his first primary challenge in 2014 from a Republican businessman with establishment backing angry that Amash voted against a GOP budget that included a business tax cut. But Amash survived by digging in, holding regular town halls and explaining every vote he took on his Facebook page.
He went on to win the general election by 20 percentage points. Amash won easily again in 2016, even as he criticized Trump for caring more about accumulating power than following the constitution.
Since then Trump appears to have only firmed up support with Republican voters, while more Democrats moved in. Amash's independence looked more like a liability than an asset.
Anna Timmer, a former Amash supporter who volunteered for his first congressional campaign in 2010, said voters like herself were willing to overlook his opposition to Trump then because many Republicans were unsure about him as well.
"People didn't know what they were going to get with Trump," Timmer said. But by 2018 they knew what they were getting — and they liked it, she said. On Amash, she said: "I think he saw the writing on the wall."
Amash won re-election last year by 11 percentage points — half the margin he had two years earlier and one of his closest races since taking office. Before the year ended, several conservatives and Trump loyalists started talking about mounting primary challenge in 2020.
Amash laid out his position on impeachment in May with a series of tweets , saying special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Trump's conduct during and after the 2016 presidential election includes "multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice." The politically powerful DeVos family said it would no longer give him money. GOP state Rep. Jim Lower announced his candidacy two days later, and raised $50,000 in roughly 48 hours.
Amash announced he was leaving the Republican party on July 4, writing in a Washington Post op-ed that "modern politics is trapped in a partisan death spiral."
Trump responded by calling Amash "one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress."
Since making his decision, the 39-year-old congressman has been difficult to pin down on his future. His office and campaign declined to make him available for an interview. Speaking to a reporter from Reason magazine at a Libertarian Party convention last month, Amash said he's still weighing whether he should run for Congress or for the White House as a Libertarian.
"If I feel I can be effective on the national stage, spreading the message of liberty and the message of respect and love then that's what I'll do," he said.
Asked by the Detroit News if he could play a spoiler for Trump in Michigan next year, Amash dismissed the idea.
"Who knows?" he said. "Maybe he'd deny me Michigan."
Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man who broke into the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to hold her hostage and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
But prosecutors later filed a motion saying the court failed to offer the defendant, David DePape, an opportunity “to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence" as required by federal rule. They asked the court to reopen the sentencing portion to allow him that option. The court did not immediately respond.
A jury found DePape, 44, guilty in November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Prosecutors had asked for a 40-year prison term.
The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world. He suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced DePape to 20 years for attempted kidnapping and 30 years for the assault, the maximum for both counts. The sentences will run concurrently. He also was given credit for the 18 months he has been in custody.
In its afternoon motion to the court, the U.S. attorney's office said DePape was not given the opportunity by the court to speak before being sentenced and that could present an issue.
DePape's defense, however, said they opposed bringing back their client to court and filed a notice of appeal, according to the filing. Prosecutors and defense counsel did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment late Friday.
The court has 14 days to correct a sentence resulting from error, prosecutors said.
DePape stood silently as he was sentenced and looked down at times. His public defense attorneys had asked the judge to sentence him to 14 years, pointing out that he was going through a difficult period in his life at the time of the attack, had undiagnosed mental health issues and had no prior criminal history.
At trial, DePape testified that he had planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume and record his interrogation of the Democratic speaker, who was not at her San Francisco home at the time of the attack, to upload it online.
Ahead of the sentencing, one of his defense attorneys, Angela Chuang, told the judge to consider the prison terms being given to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
"The five most serious sentences for people who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, of literally conspiring to overthrow the government, range from 15 to 22 years," Chuang said.
Corley said the Jan. 6 analogy didn’t adequately reflect the seriousness of breaking into an official's private home. The attack may have a chilling effect on people seeking office in the future, she said.
“They have to think not only, ‘Am I willing to take that risk myself, but am I willing to risk my spouse, my children, my grandchildren?’” the judge said.
Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence on each count and for DePape to serve 10 years concurrently, giving him a 40-year prison term.
Before sentencing, Christine Pelosi read her father and mother's victim statements, explaining how the violent attack changed their lives. In Paul Pelosi's statement, he explained that 18 months after the attack, he still gets headaches and vertigo and has fainted and fallen twice at home.
“Once you are attacked in such a public and political manner, with such threatening language, you always have to fear a copycat,” Nancy Pelosi said in her statement. “When I encourage people, especially women to consider running for office, physical threats to the family should not even be a factor, but they are.”
Both Paul and Nancy Pelosi said there are still bloodstains on the floor and other signs of the break-in at their home.
“Our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” Nancy Pelosi wrote.
DePape admitted during trial testimony that he broke into the Pelosis’ home Oct. 28, 2022, intending to hold the speaker hostage and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also admitted to bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up, saying his plan to end what he viewed as government corruption was unraveling.
Defense attorneys argued DePape was motivated by his political beliefs, not because he wanted to interfere with Nancy Pelosi’s official duties as a member of Congress, making the charges against him invalid.
Chuang, one of his attorneys, said during closing arguments that DePape was estranged from his family and was caught up in conspiracy theories.
Sky Gonzalez, David DePape’s son, told reporters outside court the 30-year prison term was equivalent to getting a death sentence.
“I think that’s quite sad. I think that’s a really long time, because if you think about it, he’s already nearly 50. Basically, it’s just a death sentence," Gonzalez said before repeating the same conspiracy theories his father wrote about before the attack.
At trial DePape, a Canadian who moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago, testified that he believed news outlets repeatedly lied about former President Donald Trump. In rants posted on a blog and online forum that were taken down after his arrest, DePape echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles runs the U.S. government.
Prosecutors said he had rope and zip ties with him, and detectives found body cameras, a computer and a tablet.
Paul Pelosi recalled at the trial how he was awakened by a large man bursting into the bedroom and asking, “Where’s Nancy?” He said that when he responded that his wife was in Washington, DePape said he would tie him up while they waited for her.
“It was a tremendous sense of shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house, and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi told jurors.
DePape also is charged in state court with assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies. Jury selection in that trial is expected to start Wednesday.
Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Gypsy Taub, ex-partner of David DePape, speaks to reporters after DePape's sentencing in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. He was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
FILE - Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling ceremony for his wife, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 14, 2022. David DePape who was convicted last year in federal court of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home will be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE – David DePape is seen, Dec. 13, 2013, in Berkeley, Calif. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - In this image taken from San Francisco Police Department body-camera video, the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi, right, fights for control of a hammer with his assailant David DePape during a brutal attack in the couple's San Francisco home, on Oct. 28, 2022. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (San Francisco Police Department via AP, File)
