Mitt Romney broke with the GOP and voted to guilty on one count of impeachment on Wednesday. Ahead of that vote, he gave each GOP senator a note.
According to The Daily Wire:
After weeks of speculation about which senators might vote against the party line, the U.S. Senate voted on the Democrats’ two articles of impeachment against President Trump on Wednesday, and only of the 100 senators defected on one of the articles —frequent Trump critic Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) voted “guilty” on “Abuse of Power,” which ultimately failed 48-52. Ahead of the vote, the Utah senator delivered a hand-signed note to each of his Republican colleagues.
The note, obtained and published by Axios, was delivered to Republican senators’ individual boxes in the Senate cloakroom ahead of the vote Wednesday. In it, Romney defends the decision that he predicts will result in immense backlash against him, including from President Trump, insisting that his vote is “an act of conviction” stemming from the seriousness with which he takes his oath, “before God, to exercise ‘impartial justice.’”
“Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?” he asks.
“As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise ‘impartial justice,’” Romney’s hand-signed letter to his peers begins. “I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.”
Here is the full text of the note from The Daily Wire:
As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise “impartial justice.” I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.
Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and disruptive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.
I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?
As it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction. We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but I trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience.
It remains unclear what, if any, repercussions Romney will face for his decision.
