US President Trump called for Sen. Mitt Romney to be impeached Saturday and argued that Republican voters in the state made a “mistake” nominating Romney for the Senate, starting a hashtag #IMPEACHROMNEY.
The president argued in his Twitter that the Utah Republican should be removed from office and that former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), another frequent Trump critic, was “better” than Romney.
“I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats! #IMPEACHMITTROMNEY,” Trump tweeted.
Romney, who was elected to the Senate last year, has the highest disapproval rating of Utah’s congressional delegation, according to a poll taken in July. While US senators cannot legally be impeached, they can face recall votes in some states. Utah, however, does not have any provisions in state law for recalling a sitting senator.
Zelensky Call
Separately, Trump claimed earlier on Friday he had the controversial phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the request of US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who headed a US delegation to Ukraine in May, US media report.
Trump had a conference call with US House of Representatives members on Friday, saying that his July conversation with Zelensky was “perfect,” Axios media reported on Saturday citing three sources.
According to one of the sources, Trump said “something to the effect of: ‘Not a lot of people know this but, I didn’t even want to make the call. The only reason I made the call was because Rick [Perry] asked me to. Something about an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant.’”
Perry is reportedly planning to resign by the end of this year.
On September 24, congressional Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Zelensky.
The inquiry was initiated after a whistleblower sent a complaint to Congress, saying Trump pressed Zelensky to investigate possible corruption by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and threatened withholding US military aid to Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Source: Agencies
