Mitt Romney did not pull any punches as he said he would vote to convict President Trump. He said that the president’s council did nothing to prove that the president did not commit an impeachable offense.
Mitt Romney will vote to convict
“There was no question in my mind,” Romney said. “that were their names, not Biden, the president would never have done what he did.”
In fact, Romney clearly states that President Trump asking the Ukrainians to investigate Biden was specifically asking a foreign government to influence an American election. Moreover, denying an ally the military equipment to fight an adversary approved by Congress is impeachable.
The Atlantic reported it as follows.
According to Romney’s interpretation of Alexander Hamilton’s treatise on impeachment in “Federalist No. 65”—which he says he’s read “multiple, multiple times”—Trump’s attempts to enlist the Ukrainian president in interfering with the 2020 election clearly rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” (He told me he would not vote to convict on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress.)
Romney’s vote will do little to reorient the political landscape. The president’s acquittal has been all but certain for weeks, as Republicans have circled the wagons to protect Trump. But the Utahan’s sharp indictment ensures that at least one dissenting voice from within the president’s party will be on the record—and Romney seems to believe history will vindicate his decision.
Kudos to Mitt Romney.
