On Thursday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) released a lengthy statement explaining some of his thinking behind his decision to vote in favor of ex-President Donald Trump’s conviction at the conclusion of his recent Senate impeachment trial, which was over a charge of incitement of insurrection. Romney was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump, and in his Thursday statement, he walked through the serious danger of Trump’s behavior. Trump provided an ideological foundation for the mob that stormed the Capitol with his lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged for Joe Biden.
‘The President’s conduct represented an unprecedented violation of his oath of office and of the public trust. There is a thin line that separates our democratic republic from an autocracy: it is a free and fair election and the peaceful transfer of power that follows it. President Trump attempted to breach that line, again. What he attempted is what was most feared by the Founders. It is the reason they invested Congress with the power to impeach. Accordingly, I voted to convict President Trump.’
The imposition of autocracy, as Trump attempted to enact, would represent an existential threat against the continuation of the United States. As Romney noted, Trump once even personally spoke with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), imploring the official to “find” enough votes to hand the then-president a victory in the state. There was never any legitimate evidence of any kind of systematic fraud that was supposedly responsible for Biden’s victory, and following through on Trump’s demand would have required fraudulently doctoring the presidential election results in Georgia.
Romney said that Trump’s “attempt to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State to falsify the electoral results was itself a heinous act that merited impeachment,” adding as follows:
‘There is one untruth that divides the nation today like none other: it is that the election was stolen, that there was a massive conspiracy, more secret and widespread than any in human history, so brilliant in execution that no evidence can be found of it and no observer among the tens of thousands in our intelligence agencies will speak of it. That lie brought our nation to a dark and dangerous place. Invented and disseminated by the President, it poisoned our politics and our public discourse. Like you, I hear many calls for unity. It is apparent that calling for unity while at the same time appeasing the big lie of a stolen election is a fraud. It is the lie that caused the division. It is in the service of that lie that a mob invaded the Capitol on January 6th.’
Thus, Romney said that Senators must “affirm” that “Biden won the election through the legitimate vote of the American people.” Not all Senators have openly acknowledged this fundamental reality. Read Romney’s full new statement at this link and by clicking on the post below:
.@MittRomney: “Like you, I hear many calls for unity. It is apparent that calling for unity while at the same time appeasing the big lie of a stolen election is a fraud. It is the lie that caused the division. It is in the service of that lie that a mob invaded the Capitol” Jan 6 pic.twitter.com/XTyP3EFXeZ
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 18, 2021
Just this week, Fox News aired an interview with Trump in which he reiterated the deranged lie that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election. This unhinged garbage has serious potential consequences.
Trump's comments here are absolutely despicable and unconscionable and the Fox host doesn't even push back. Infuriating. https://t.co/zjpeKXQZbC
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) February 17, 2021
Featured Image (edited): via Gage Skidmore on Wikimedia Commons, available under a Creative Commons License
