In posts posted on social media, it is alleged that Utah officially started recalling Republican Senator Mitt Romney in Utah after he twice voted to convict former US President Donald Trump. This statement is false. The chairman of the Republican Party in Utah told Reuters that he does not condemn Romney and that the US Constitution does not provide for the revocation of senators, nor does it authorize them.
The reports (here, here, here) say: “Utah starts OFFICIALLY REMINDING for Mitt Romney .. 124k signatures within 1 hour !!”
In both the 2020 and 2021 prosecution trials, Romney voted to convict Trump and remove him from office (here). In the process of indictment in 2020, when Romney was the only Republican senator to vote for Trump, a bill was proposed in Utah to make it possible to recall a U.S. senator, but this bill was rejected (here, here ) and the Utah speaker said the Republican caucus, after a “robust debate,” decided not to make proposals to reprimand or recall Romney (here, here).
After the 2021 indictment, Republican parties in North Carolina and Louisiana voted to condemn Senators Richard Burr and Bill Cassidy for their votes to convict Trump (here). Censorship is a formal statement of disapproval and is therefore less serious than expulsion. It does not remove a senator from office (here).
With ‘Recalls’, citizens can remove and replace a public official before their official term ends, but the recall of government officials is not allowed in Utah (here). In any case, the US Constitution does not provide for the revocation of federally elected officials such as senators (or not here) and does not authorize it either. The only ways to remove a senator from office are by accusation or suspension (here, here).
The social media posts apparently refer to unofficial online petitions to censor or revoke Romney, made by voters after the 2021 indictment, which received thousands of signatures, seen here, here and here.
Derek Brown, chairman of the Utah Republican Party, told Reuters in an email that the Utah Republican Party did not recall or censor Romney: “The Utah Republican Party does nothing related to Romney’s conviction, or any of our two senators for their vote. None of the online petitions, most of which appear from outside Utah, are (sic) to do with our state party. There is also no recall process in Utah, and therefore any discussion of an attempt to recall Romney is false. ‘
The Utah GOP’s official statement regarding the accusation of the two Utah senators (Romney and Mike Lee, the latter voted to acquit Trump), which is visible here, states: ‘The differences between our own Utah- Republicans show a variety of thoughts […] There is power in our differences as a political party and we look forward to every senator casting his vote to the people of Utah. Disagreement is natural and healthy in a party […] With the start of 2021, we are not looking at the past or being punished. ”
VERDICT
Untrue. The petitions to disregard Mitt Romney are not official ways to remove them, as posts claim. The Republican Party in Utah told Reuters he was doing nothing to try to remove Romney.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.