On the same day President Donald Trump ranted and raved about being acquitted in a rigged impeachment trial, Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) broke ranks to tell reporters that Trump should have been removed from office for abusing his power.
Senate Republicans voted to acquit Trump on Wednesday, but the hero of the day was Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted to convict, thus denying Trump the total GOP allegiance he had been demanding while making conviction a bipartisan action.
Trump abused his power by withholding military aid from Ukraine in a scheme to force the country to announce a sham investigation into his top political rival to damage him ahead of the 2020 Election.
But Senate Republicans blocked witness testimony and refused to enter new evidence, and voted to convict even though there was clearly enough evidence and testimony presented by the House to warrant conviction and removal.
Trump spent an hour on Thursday delivering remarks in which he bragged about being acquitted and attacked those he considers his enemies, even calling all investigations into his misconduct “bullsh*t.”
Another Republican besides Romney who does not believe the impeachment was “bullsh*t” is Vermont Governor Phil Scott, who criticized GOP senators for not calling witnesses.
“If they’d taken more testimony, maybe they’d have had more information and maybe other senators would have acted appropriately,” he told reporters. “I believe that the president abused his powers. It’s hard, in some respects for me, because I’m not a supporter. I didn’t vote for the president, and I don’t believe that he should be in office.”
“I believe he abused his position of power; withholding those funds is inappropriate,” Scott continued. “I believe, as Senator Romney did, that he shouldn’t be in office.”
Despite most Republicans targeting Romney with scorn, Scott praised him.
“It shows a lot about his character and integrity,” he concluded. “We can only hope that if we are in that same, similar situation that we’d do the same.”
Senate Republicans may think they’ve won the day, but they’ve angered the American people, a majority of whom wanted to see witness testimony during the trial. A majority also wanted Trump removed from office. Now voters get the chance to ensure that the Republican scheme backfires by ousting Trump and his allies from office in November. And then the next president can pursue real justice.
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