Lee says Romney should not be punished for indictment

Lee says Romney should not be punished for indictment

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He says “there is enough room in the IDP for both of us.”

(Susan Walsh | AP file photo, pool) Mike Lee in Utah is shown here in a file photo from December 11, 2020. Lee defends the vote of Senator Mitt Romney to convict former President Donald Trump in his second indictment. Lee says Romney should not be punished for the vote because there is room for different opinions in the Republican Party.

| 19 February 2021, 23:17

| Updated: February 20, 2021, 01:56

Senate Mike Lee defends Senator Mitt Romney’s vote to convict former President Donald Trump in his second indictment. Although Lee does not agree with Romney’s conclusion, he does not see it as a “cause for concern.”

“Although Senator Romney and I usually agree – and with a majority of Senate Republicans, we voted differently,” reads Lee’s statement issued during his 2022 re-election campaign. “It shows that none of us blindly offend anyone.”

Romney was the first U.S. senator in history to vote to convict a president from his own political party when he was the only Republican to vote for conviction during Trump’s first indictment in February 2020. In the second trial, six other Republicans joined Romney. which concluded that Trump was guilty of inciting the crowd that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. That riot killed five people, including a Capitol police officer.

The Republicans were much scolded over Romney for voting against the majority of his party towards the end of the trial. There was pressure on social media to censor him, with one attempt to say that he “misrepresented himself as a Republican” and accused him of being an agent of the “deep state” that Trump opposed. has. Other Republicans in Utah have asked him to resign for his vote.
When the rioters stormed through the Capitol building on Jan. 6, Lee told The Salt Lake Tribune that Trump accidentally called his cell phone and thought he was trying to contact newly elected Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville. During the indictment, Lee, along with other Republican senators, consulted Trump’s legal team to discuss their legal strategy before embarking on defending the former president.

Lee strongly disagrees with the calls to punish Romney for his vote.

“While Senator Romney and I sometimes come to different conclusions, there is enough room in the Republican tent for both of us – just as there is enough for all Republicans in a general election, no matter how they voted in the primary,” Lee said. said. statement.

Lee’s words reflect those of the Republican Party in Utah. The state GOP issued a statement after the divergent accusations by Lee and Romney, saying ‘diversity of thought’ is an advantage for political parties and warns against ‘unanimity’.

Lee’s public statement of support for Romney comes as he prepares to run for a third term in the U.S. Senate next year. He is already facing opposition as the left-wing Alliance for a Better Utah launched the “Humans Against Mike Lee” campaign this week to oust him. He is also raising funds ahead of next year’s race, with one email claiming to be the biggest target of the anti-Trump “Lincoln Project” group.

As Lee sees it, differences in political thinking will make the IDP stronger as they go to the 2022 midterm elections.

‘The Republican Party must work tirelessly to retake the House and Senate in 2022. If we have different perspectives in our party, it will lead to a more robust debate, which in turn will yield more thoughtful policy results – all of which will benefit Republicans in future elections. “The Republican Party tent is open to anyone and everyone who is willing to support our shared, freedom-minded goals,” Lee wrote.

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