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| President Trump thumbs up for victory. |
The Senate on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, voted to
acquit Donald Trump in the impeachment trial stemming from the Ukraine scandal.
On the first article of impeachment—which alleged that the president had abused
his power—Republican Mitt Romney joined all 45 Democrats and two independents
in voting to convict Trump, but that was far short of the two-thirds majority
needed to remove the president from office.
On the second article of
impeachment, which alleged obstruction of Congress, all 53 Republicans voted to
acquit the president; every Democrat and both independents voted to convict.
House Democrats—joined by one
Republican-turned-independent—had accused Trump of improperly pressuring
Ukraine to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter. A
congressional inquiry into Trump’s conduct ensued, sparked by an anonymous
whistleblower complaint regarding a mysterious hold on military
aid to Ukraine. Over the course of several high-profile House hearings,
career government officials gave dramatic testimony about Trump’s efforts
to coerce the Ukrainians into launching investigations designed to help the US
president politically.
On
December 18, the House passed two
articles of impeachment against Trump, leading to a trial in the Senate.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said at the outset that he wanted a
speedy trial and speedy acquittal; he ultimately got both. Republicans
successfully quashed a push from Democrats to subpoena several key witnesses,
including former national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of
staff Mick Mulvaney—both of whom appeared to allege at
various points that Trump had tied the Ukrainian military aid to his desired
investigations.
Bolton’s testimony was the one Democrats craved most. A manuscript
he wrote about his time in the Trump administration reportedly included several
passages undermining the
narrative on which Trump and his allies had based the
president’s defense strategy.
His eyewitness account could have been a smoking
gun. Instead, the GOP Senate majority largely stuck by Trump—first by blocking
witness testimony, and then by ensuring that he would not become the first
American president to be removed from office.
On the latter issue, Romney proved to be the one exception. In
a dramatic floor
speech before Wednesday’s vote, he described his vote as “the
most difficult decision I have ever faced.”
“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,” he said. “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?”
Romney’s speech won praise
from Senate Democrats—Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called it
“one of the most important speeches I have ever had the good fortune to hear in
person”—but Republicans quickly turned on Romney, who just eight years ago was
the party’s nominee for president.
“Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS,”
Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted after
the vote. “He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now.
He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from
the GOP.”
Romney’s niece, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna
McDaniel, said in a statement that this was “not the first time I have
disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.”
Echoing the view of the official party apparatus, she added, “The
bottom line is President Trump did nothing wrong, and the Republican Party is
more united than ever behind him.”
Not all Republicans necessarily agreed with
that assessment. Two possible swing votes, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and
Susan Collins (R-Maine), voted against removing Trump, but agreed with Romney
that the president’s conduct was improper.
“The president’s behavior was
shameful and wrong,” Murkowski said Monday.
“His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great
nation.” Collins, while acknowledging that Trump’s behavior toward Ukraine was
“flawed,” said she
did not believe the House managers’ case justified “the extreme step of
immediate removal from office.”
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