GOP congressmen kept mentioning Trump's 63 million votes. Steny Hoyer reminded them Hillary had more.

Steny Hoyer.
(Image credit: House Television via AP)

Throughout the House debate on Wednesday, several Republicans said that by trying to impeach President Trump, Democrats were actually attacking the nearly 63 million people who voted for him. Not so fast, responded House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

"There's been a lot of talk about the 63 million people who voted for Mr. Trump," he said. "Little talk about the 65 million who voted for Hillary Clinton." This elicited claps and cheers from fellow Democrats.

Hoyer understands that people want to defend members of their own party, but "party loyalty must have its limits," he said. Hoyer went on to mention Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who left the Republican Party earlier this year and is a conservative critic of Trump. Amash is "the only member of this House who has no allegiance to either party, but to his country," Hoyer said. "He is supporting both articles. We need to ask who will be the first to show courage by standing up to President Trump. The question we must now ask is who will be the last to find it?"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.