Fox News host Tucker Carlson refused to say Sen. Mitt Romney’s name after the Utah Republican voted in favor of convicting President Trump for abuse of power.
“A lone Republican, as you may have read, defected and joined the Democrats,” Carlson said during his show Wednesday night. “That senator shall go unnamed on this show on the grounds that silly moral preening should not be rewarded with the publicity it is designed to garner.”
Trump was acquitted on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress hours earlier, with Romney being the sole senator to vote across party lines. Romney said he believed the president violated the power of his office by asking Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden. He voted with Republicans, however, to acquit Trump on the obstruction of Congress charge.
The backlash for his vote was swift, with some Trump allies calling for him to be expelled from the Republican Party.
“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,” Romney said.
