(CNN) In an exclusive interview, Rep. Paul Mitchell, Republican of Michigan, told CNN that his disgust and disappointment with President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election have led him to request that the Clerk of the House change his party affiliation to “independent,” and to notify GOP leaders in a letter that he is withdrawing his “engagement and association with the Republican Party at both the national and state level.”

“This party has to stand up for democracy first, for our Constitution first, and not political considerations,” Mitchell said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

“Not to protect a candidate. Not simply for raw political power, and that’s what I feel is going on and I’ve had enough.”
Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of this session of Congress, says he fears that the House GOP leadership’s participation in the outgoing President’s conspiracy theories and attempts to disenfranchise millions of American voters to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory could cause “long-term harm to our democracy.”

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