Sen. Mitt Romney Censured by Utah County Republican Party

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) walks through Statuary Hall with other senators to the House Chamber for President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 4, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was censured over the weekend by the Republican Party of Weber County, Utah, for voting to convict former President Donald Trump in the Senate’s second impeachment trial earlier this year.

The resolution to censure Romney, a former presidential candidate, was passed 116–97 by members of the Weber County GOP, County Party Secretary Jill Koford told the Salt Lake Tribune.

“The Weber County Republican Convention censures Mitt Romney for his votes to convict President Trump in two U.S. Senate impeachment trials which denied the President due process, allowed falsified evidence, did not provide adequate time for an investigation, and did not follow the U.S. Constitution which states a President may only be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors,” the Weber County GOP’s resolution said.

The resolution also thanked Utah Republicans, including Sen. Mike Lee and Reps. Chris Stewart, John Curtis, Blake Moore, and Burgess Owens, for voting against the articles of impeachment earlier this year.

“You have six years between elections of senators, and I think it’s important to let Senator Romney know the delegates are not satisfied with what he’s doing,” said Bryan Gray, who sponsored May 8’s censure of Romney, according to KUTV.

“I’m not here to divide the party by censuring Mitt Romney,” Gray also said, as reported by The Standard newspaper. “I’m here to make him aware of how he divided the party.”

Romney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Romney, who voted to convict Trump during his first impeachment trial—the only Republican to do so—said that he voted to convict in February because he believed Trump attempted to “corrupt an election to keep oneself in power” with post-Nov. 3 election challenges and statements. The House Democrat-led impeachment said that Trump was partially responsible for the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

On May 1, the Utah Republican Party narrowly voted down censuring Romney, although the Utah senator was loudly booed during the Utah Republican Party organizational convention.

“Now you know me as a person who says what he thinks, and I don’t hide the fact that I wasn’t a fan of our last president’s character issues,” Romney said to the crowd, causing the audience to loudly boo the Republican senator. He was forced to stop his speech before the crowd died down.

“Oh yeah, you can boo all you like, but I’ve been a Republican all my life. My dad was a governor of Michigan, my dad worked for Republican candidates that he believed in. I worked for Republicans across the country and, if you don’t recall, I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012,” he also said.

Last week, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) and nine other House Republicans who impeached Trump this year were censured by the Ohio Republican Party, who also called on Gonzalez to resign from office.