‘Trump Is Guilty’: Sen. Romney Issues Statement Explaining Impeachment Vote

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) issued a statement Saturday explaining why he was among the seven GOP senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection.

“After careful consideration of the respective counsels’ arguments, I have concluded that President Trump is guilty of the charge made by the House of Representatives,” Romney began, adding that he believes Trump “attempted to corrupt the election by pressuring the Secretary of State of Georgia to falsify the election results in his state,” which is an allegation not covered in the impeachment article.

“President Trump incited the insurrection against Congress by using the power of his office to summon his supporters to Washington on January 6th and urging them to march on the Capitol during the counting of electoral votes,” Romney continued. “He did this despite the obvious and well known threats of violence that day.”

“President Trump also violated his oath of office by failing to protect the Capitol, the Vice President, and others in the Capitol,” Romney concluded. “Each and every one of these conclusions compels me to support conviction.”

Romney statement on voting to convict Trump: pic.twitter.com/2EGU6WJb6L

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) February 13, 2021

Romney was also one of the five Republican senators to support calling in witnesses during the impeachment trial, a move that was later shelved shortly before the Senate vote. Romney and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) reportedly got into a heated back-and-forth on the Senate floor about the topic, which Romney later dismissed as an argument over underwear preference.

“… They were going back and forth with Sullivan in the middle of them. I heard Johnson tell Romney ‘Blame you.’ Voices were definitely raised.”

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 13, 2021

Romney, a longtime Trump opponent, was the only Republican senator to vote to convict him during his first impeachment last year.

As The Daily Wire reported at the time:

“The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious,” Romney said on the floor of the Senate. “As a senator juror I swore an oath before God to exercise impartial justice. I am profoundly religious, my faith is at the heart of who I am.”

“I take an oath before God as enormously consequential,” Romney continued. “I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.”

“The grave question the Constitution tasks Senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to a level of a high crime and misdemeanor,” Romney later added. “Yes, he did. The president asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The president withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so. The president delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders. The president’s purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect, no, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values.”

“Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destruction violation of ones oath of office that I can imagine,” Romney continued. “I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the president from office.”

Related: U.S. Senate Acquits Trump; Seven Republicans Vote Guilty

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