Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said Wednesday that he will vote to convict President Donald Trump for abusing his power, making him the only Republican in the Senate to publicly side with Democrats calling for Trump’s removal from office.
Romney first shared his decision with The New York Times just a few hours before the Senate is set to hold its final 4 p.m. ET vote on whether to convict Trump on the two articles of impeachment that passed the House in December.
NBC News reported that Romney will vote to convict Trump on the first article of impeachment, alleging Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine’s president to announce investigations into his political opponents while he withheld nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to the country.
Romney reportedly said he will vote against the second article, which alleges Trump obstructed Congress by refusing to cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry, and pressuring potential witnesses not to comply.
On the Senate floor just two hours before the final vote was set to begin, Romney said, “Voters will make the final decision, just as the president’s lawyers have implored. My vote will likely be in the minority in the Senate.”
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“But,” he added, “irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty.”
The announcement marks Romney as not only the sole Republican to vote for Trump’s removal, but the first senator in American history to vote to convict a president from his own party.
Romney, who was the Republican nominee for president against Barack Obama in 2012, has been a fierce critic of Trump’s dating back to the 2016 presidential campaign.
Romney was one of just two GOP senators to vote in favor of allowing additional witnesses and documents in the Trump’s impeachment trial. The other senator, Susan Collins of Maine, announced Tuesday that she would vote to acquit Trump on both articles.
On the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, Romney said that “the grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and so egregious” that it warrants impeachment.
Romney concluded: “Yes, he did.”
“The president’s purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust,” Romney said.
“What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values,” Romney continued. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.”
Romney acknowledged that his vote will not change the outcome of the trial, in which Trump is virtually guaranteed to be acquitted. The GOP holds a 53-47 majority in the Senate; It would take 67 votes convict Trump.
But he said that the pressure to side with Trump was nonetheless immense.
Utah hunter finds skeletal remains of man missing since 2019 in remote mountains Republicans believe college campus chaos works in their favor War veteran in crucial battleground race expands campaign, sets sights firmly on vulnerable Democrat White House looks to convince Americans of ‘Bidenomics’ with Kamala Harris tour Laws protecting children from online porn are winning in some states as activists push nationwide solution Crash outside White House security barrier leaves 1 dead: Police Class Warfare: IRS Promises to Increase Audits of ‘Wealthy’ Taxpayers by at Least 50% – Report Stock Drops Like a Rock After Woke CEO Says He’s ‘Eager’ to Hire Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Irrevocably Shaken’: Why Columbia Law Review Editors Are Demanding Cancellation of Exams Jack Smith’s Team Admits They Tampered with Key Evidence in Trump’s Case, Misled the Court About It GOP Governor Declares War on Lab-Grown Meat, Signs Law Making Distribution, Sale, Manufacture Illegal Columbia president calls last 2 weeks ‘among the most difficult’ in school’s history amid anti-Israel protests White House Mocked for ‘Cringe’ Luke Skywalker Press Briefing Appearance Bidenomics Is Killing the American Dream of Owning Your Own Home Nationwide – Study Anti-Israel groups accuse Chicago, DNC of trying to ‘protect’ Biden from protests at 2024 Dem convention
“In the last several weeks, I’ve received numerous calls and texts, many demanding with their words that I stand with the team. I can assure you that thought has been very much on my mind,” Romney said.
“I support a great deal of what the president had done. I voted with him 80 percent of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside.”
The reaction from Trump’s supporters was swift and severe.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., claimed in a tweet that Romney is “forever bitter that he will never be” president. “He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP.”
Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS. He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now.
He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 5, 2020
GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel — who is Romney’s niece — also criticized her uncle’s decision.
“This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last,” she tweeted. “I, along with the @GOP, stand with President Trump.”
Utah hunter finds skeletal remains of man missing since 2019 in remote mountains Republicans believe college campus chaos works in their favor War veteran in crucial battleground race expands campaign, sets sights firmly on vulnerable Democrat White House looks to convince Americans of ‘Bidenomics’ with Kamala Harris tour Laws protecting children from online porn are winning in some states as activists push nationwide solution Crash outside White House security barrier leaves 1 dead: Police Class Warfare: IRS Promises to Increase Audits of ‘Wealthy’ Taxpayers by at Least 50% – Report Stock Drops Like a Rock After Woke CEO Says He’s ‘Eager’ to Hire Anti-Israel Protesters ‘Irrevocably Shaken’: Why Columbia Law Review Editors Are Demanding Cancellation of Exams Jack Smith’s Team Admits They Tampered with Key Evidence in Trump’s Case, Misled the Court About It GOP Governor Declares War on Lab-Grown Meat, Signs Law Making Distribution, Sale, Manufacture Illegal Columbia president calls last 2 weeks ‘among the most difficult’ in school’s history amid anti-Israel protests White House Mocked for ‘Cringe’ Luke Skywalker Press Briefing Appearance Bidenomics Is Killing the American Dream of Owning Your Own Home Nationwide – Study Anti-Israel groups accuse Chicago, DNC of trying to ‘protect’ Biden from protests at 2024 Dem convention
This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.
The bottom line is President Trump did nothing wrong, and the Republican Party is more united than ever behind him.
I, along with the @GOP, stand with President Trump.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 5, 2020
Read Romney’s full remarks as prepared for delivery.