Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney addressed the potential backlash from his own party after announcing that he plans to vote in favor of convicting President Trump.
Romney, 72, made his decision two hours before the Senate will vote on two articles charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He intends to vote to convict on the abuse of power charge but will vote against the charge of obstruction. The Utah senator addressed his vote in an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
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He acknowledged that there likely will be “substantial” blowback “not just from the president but from my party, from my state, from Republican voters.”
Romney will be the only GOP member in either chamber of Congress to join the Democrats in voting to pass the articles of impeachment in the House or to convict him in the Senate. The Senate requires a two-thirds vote to remove a president from office, so it would require close to two dozen GOP senators to vote with Democrats to convict Trump.
“Yeah, it’s going to get very lonely. And again, the consequences are significant. They’re enough that it made this very difficult process for me. There’s not been a morning since this process began that I slept beyond 4:00 a.m,” he added.
Romney and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine were the only two Republicans to vote last week to extend the Senate trial and call new witnesses.
