President Trump invited Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, and eight other Republican senators to discuss party unity ahead of a House impeachment vote.
Collins, 66, and Romney, 72, have both broken from the Republican Party to criticize the president when they disagree with his actions, making their votes key should impeachment pass the House and move to the Senate.
A Romney aide told ABC News that he was surprised by the invitation, given the rocky relationship between Trump and the senator. Romney has maintained that he gets along with Trump, despite calling him a “phony” and a “con man” during the 2016 elections. Trump has also made his distaste for Romney clear, calling him a “pompous ass.”
Romney has said that he is “open” to removing Trump from office if that is what the evidence demands. He also called Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “troubling in the extreme.”
Collins and Trump have had policy disagreements but have a much less hostile relationship. The senator was one of the deciding votes to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh but has not signaled her position on impeachment. Collins argued that she is a juror in the impeachment trial and would not make a decision until after the full Senate hearing, but she did call Trump’s request for an investigation into Joe Biden from the Ukrainians “completely inappropriate” and a “big mistake.”
Trump’s lunch plans with Collins, Romney, and others are part of a series of meetings he has set up with Republican senators. Following Thursday’s lunch, he will have met with 50 of the 53 Republican senators.
On the House side, Republicans have remained mostly unified behind President Trump. The vote to formalize the impeachment hearings was split down party lines with every Republican and two Democrats voting against the investigation.
