WASHINGTON D.C. – Utah Senator Mitt Romney’s faith is part of his explanation as to why he decided to split with the Republican party to convict President Trump of abuse of power.
The senator held a press call with local reporters shortly after his comments on the Senate floor. He maintains that he held an open mind while he listened to arguments from both sides. Romney claims he didn’t make a decision until Thursday of last week, and it didn’t come easy.
He said, “I’ve known the president for many years even before politics, and I did not want to be in that position any more than any other person would want to be in a position of having to judge someone that they know, and that they have feelings of cordiality for. I did not want that; I knew it would have enormous consequence.”
However, after all of the arguments were presented, Romney says his faith convinced him he needed to convict the president on the first article of impeachment. He maintains his belief that President Trump asked a foreign entity to investigate a political rival for personal gain. He cited a hymn from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which says, “Do what is right. Let the consequence follow.”
Romney says there wasn’t just one piece of evidence that convinced him that the president should be found guilty.
“It was all of the evidence that was gathered, as well in some cases as applying reason and judgment on the facts that I was able to receive,” he said.
Republicans lashed out at Romney after his Senate floor comments. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., called for Romney to be removed from the GOP, tweeting, “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.”
One of Romney’s former staffers, Rick Gorka, claims Romney’s decision was based on “bitterness and jealousy.”
The junior senator expect this kind of blow-back to happen.
“I anticipate the president will have comment, as well. Perhaps at rallies, and so forth,” he said.
Utah’s senior senator, Mike Lee, also a Republican, said he didn’t see this coming. He expected the two would disagree on the need to call additional witnesses, but he never expected Romney to convict on either charge. Lee says the president was well within his authority to pause aid to the Ukraine.
“What the president did here was to encourage the Ukrainian government to investigate the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma. This is something the Obama administration had advocated for years before Trump took office,” Lee said.
When asked if he still respected Romney, Lee answered, “In the heat of this particular decision, it’s hard for me to see anything but that disagreement. Tomorrow’s a different day. Every day is a new day.”
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