Mitt Romney could vote to remove Donald Trump from office as feud escalates
Mitt Romney has declined to rule out voting to remove Donald Trump from office if he is impeached, instead giving an excoriating account of the US president’s personal behaviour and saying he will keep an open mind on the issue.
Mr Romney, the former Republican presidential nominee now a senator for Utah, escalated his long-running clash with Mr Trump in a pair of interviews published over the weekend with the political website Axios and magazine The Atlantic.
Among the targets of Mr Romney’s criticism were Mr Trump’s payments to a porn star he is alleged to have had an affair with, Stormy Daniels, the president’s rhetoric on race and the recent US troop withdrawal from Syria. Mr Trump has always denied the Daniels affair.
The most eye-catching of Mr Romney’s comments came over impeachment. The House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, is expected to vote to impeach Mr Trump before Christmas.
It will then be up to the Senate, which is controlled by the Republicans, to decide whether Mr Trump should be kicked from office.
Discussing the issue with Axios, Mr Romney said: "I just want to get as much information as we can, make an assessment consistent with the law and the Constitution."
During that interview he called the Syria withdrawal a “very dark spot in America’s history” and said paying a porn star for relations outside of marriage was “not honourable”.
To The Atlantic, Mr Romney again did not rule out voting for removal, saying: “At this stage, I am strenuously avoiding trying to make any judgment.”
Mr Romney appeared to acknowledge that history would judge how he and other senators acted, noting to The Atlantic: “I do think people will view this as an inflection point in American history.”
Around 20 Republican senators would need to flip and back removal for Mr Trump to go - something that seems unlikely, given Republican voters overwhelmingly are against removal according to polls.
Mr Romney’s political relationship with Mr Trump has been turbulent. He accepted Mr Trump’s endorsement for his 2012 presidential bid but then was fiercely critical when Mr Trump ran in 2016.
After Mr Trump won the election the pair met on better terms, with Mr Romney in the running for US secretary of state. However since missing out on the role and then entering the US Senate Mr Romney has again been critical.
Mr Trump’s anger at Mr Romney’s criticism over the Ukraine scandal, which triggered the impeachment inquiry, has been evident in a string of tweets he has issued, one with the phrase #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY.
On Monday, Mr Trump said he expected the House to vote for his impeachment – something which has happened to only two other US presidents – but called Republicans to rally to his defence.
He praised the Democrats for sticking together, saying: "They don't have Mitt Romney in their midst."
