President Trump rebuked Sen. Mitt Romney hours after the Utah Republican was the only GOP lawmaker who voted to remove him from office.
Romney announced his vote on Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the Senate voted on both articles of impeachment. He went on to vote to convict Trump on the abuse of power article but acquitted him on the obstruction of Congress charge.
The president attacked the senator on Twitter early Thursday morning, saying, “Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!”
Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
Hours earlier, Trump tweeted a video claiming that Romney is “a Democrat secret asset” as a plausible explanation for his vote.
The 2012 Republican presidential candidate explained his decision, arguing that Trump is “guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust,” while claiming that “there is no question in my mind that were their names not Biden, the president would have never done what he did.”
The Senate voted 52-48 to acquit the president on the abuse of power charge and 53-47 to acquit him on the obstruction of Congress charge. Romney was the only senator who did not vote the same way on each charge.
