Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced he's voting to convict President Trump on Wednesday. And his conservative colleagues are fuming. He's not only the first GOP senator to vote to convict Trump. He's also the first senator to vote to convict a president of the same party in an impeachment trial.
One of the first reactions to roll in was from Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), one of the members of Trump's impeachment defense team. He got right to the point and called Romney a "sore loser."
Mitt Romney absolutely despises that Donald Trump was elected POTUS & he was not. The sore loser mentality launched this sham impeachment & corruptly rigged & jammed it through the House. It looks like Schiff recruited himself a sore loser buddy on the GOP side to play along.
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) February 5, 2020
The RNC, particularly RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, Romney's niece, was disappointed.
This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 5, 2020
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.
Mitt Romney is bitter.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 5, 2020
Bitter he didn't win in 2012.
Bitter @realDonaldTrump didn't pick him to be Sec of State.
Bitter President Trump is more popular than he is in Utah.
And Mitt's announcement was ALL ABOUT HIM.
Romney did a pretaped sitdown interview with Chris Wallace.
In an interview with Fox News's Chris Wallace, Romney was the first to admit that it's going to be awfully "lonely" in the Senate from now on after he decided to break ranks. He had previously voted to hear from additional witnesses.
“Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine,” Romney said of Trump's actions, before deeming him "guilty."
Meanwhile, the likes of David Axelrod, Joe Scarborough and the Democratic Coalition are applauding Romney for his "integrity."
Thank you Senator Romney.
— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) February 5, 2020
It's not just a vote. Mitt Romney's concise explanation of why impeached Donald Trump must be removed from office is grounded in the truth, the facts and the law.#TheResistance salutes you. pic.twitter.com/Fm5wNttlbv