White House touts Romney criticizing GOP impeachment inquiry efforts

The White House touted remarks Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) made in an interview Sunday in which the Utah lawmaker said House Republicans had no evidence to support their effort to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

A White House spokesperson sent an email shortly after Romney made the remarks on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that included a partial transcript and video clip of the interview in which Romney said he would vote against impeachment if he were serving in the House.

When asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker if he sees any evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors” being committed by Biden, Romney responded: “No. I don’t see any evidence of that at all.”

“I think before you begin an impeachment inquiry, you ought to have some evidence, some inclination that there’s been wrongdoing. And so far, there’s nothing of that nature that’s been provided,” Romney said, directly responding to the argument from some House Republicans that they were moving to open the investigation in order to gain access to information that might reveal evidence of wrongdoing.

The White House email noted that Romney’s comments come two days before House Republicans have a vote scheduled to open an impeachment inquiry, which it cast as a “political stunt.”

Asked whether he’s opposed to the inquiry, Romney said, “Well, if I were in the House, I’d vote against it unless they were able to bring forward evidence that suggested there were a high crime or misdemeanor that had been committed. But so far, that hasn’t been the case.”

“Look, fortunately for most people, we’re not responsible for the misdeeds of our kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids,” Romney said. “Nothing in my family I’m embarrassed about, but President Biden’s son, Hunter, has obviously been a very unsavory person and has had some extremely damaged personal foibles, including a drug habit and so forth.”

“That’s not President Biden,” Romney added. “And we’re not going to impeach someone because of the sins of their kids.”

Romney became the first senator in history to vote to impeach a president of his own party, when he supported the first impeachment of former President Trump. Several other Senate Republicans joined him in supporting Trump’s second impeachment.

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