Donald
Trump Jr calls for Mitt Romney to be expelled from Republican party
President’s
son made remark after Romney said he would vote to convict Donald Trump on
first article of impeachment
Joan E
Greve in Washington
@joanegreve
Wed 5 Feb
2020 21.24 GMTLast modified on Wed 5 Feb 2020 21.38 GMT
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.
Adam Schiff
✔
@RepAdamSchiff
Having
proven Trump guilty, I asked if there was just one Republican Senator who would
say “enough”
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://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1225133328594018304 …
The New
York Times
✔
@nytimes
Breaking
News: "The case was made." Mitt Romney will vote to convict President
Trump of abuse of power, the first Republican to support removing him from
office in the impeachment trial. https://nyti.ms/31uKxgO
116K
8:29 PM -
Feb 5, 2020
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.
Olivia
Beavers
✔
@Olivia_Beavers
“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.
When asked
if he should be kicked out of GOP: “oh my gosh, no,” adding that will be for
voters to decide.
5
8:40 PM -
Feb 5, 2020
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.
Ronna
McDaniel
✔
@GOPChairwoman
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.
29.6K
8:34 PM - Feb 5, 2020
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.
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