Donald Trump Jr has called for Mitt Romney to be expelled from the Republican party after the senator announced he would vote to convict the president on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power.
In a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Romney said he would vote to convict Donald Trump on the first article, becoming the first senator in US history to vote to remove a president of his own party in a Senate impeachment trial.
“The grave question the constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor,” Romney said in a speech to the Senate floor. “Yes, he did.”
However, Romney said he would vote to acquit on the second article, obstruction of Congress. He acknowledged his vote would not be enough to change Trump’s ultimate acquittal on both counts, but he cast his decision as a matter of duty to his office.
“With my vote I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty,” Romney said. “What the president did was wrong. Grievously wrong.”
Romney’s move was praised by several leading Democrats including the California congressman Adam Schiff, who had led the House team that made the case for Trump’s impeachment during the trial.
Having proven Trump guilty, I asked if there was just one Republican Senator who would say “enough”
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 5, 2020
Who would stand up against this dangerously immoral president
Who would display moral courage
Who would do impartial justice as their oath required and convict
And there is. https://t.co/xNHi2CP6oF
But Romney’s speech reportedly came as a surprise to the White House, which abruptly cancelled a planned press event with Trump and Venezuela’s opposition leader.
Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, quickly tweeted, accusing Romney of being “forever bitter” that he will never be president after losing the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama, and then calling for him to be expelled from the Republican Senate conference. Such a move is very unlikely.
At least one of Romney’s Republican colleagues pushed back against that idea, saying it was up to voters to decide.
“To me, I just couldn’t vote to remove somebody on that record … but everyone has to make their own decisions,” Senator Josh Hawley told the Hill.
“To me, I just couldn’t vote to remove somebody on that record... but everyone has to make their own decisions,” Sen. Hawley says in response to Romney’s vote.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) February 5, 2020
When asked if he should be kicked out of GOP: “oh my gosh, no,” adding that will be for voters to decide.
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and Romney’s niece, said she “disagreed” with her uncle’s decision but believed the party was “more united than ever” behind Trump.
This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 5, 2020
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.
Trump has not yet weighed in on Romney’s announcement, but it seems very likely that the president will similarly lash out against the Republican senator, considering the longstanding tension between the two.
Romney spoke out against Trump’s election during the 2016 campaign, and as recently as October, the president mocked Romney for having “choked” in his 2012 race against Obama.