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Mitt Romney not criticizing Nancy Pelosi’s handling of potential Trump impeachment over Ukraine call

Utah Republican is waiting to see where investigations lead

Sen. Mitt Romney says he will not be offering advice to House Democrats on how to proceed on their impeachment inquiry. ( Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Sen. Mitt Romney says he will not be offering advice to House Democrats on how to proceed on their impeachment inquiry. ( Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

As some Republicans rush to declare that there are no grounds on which to impeach President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitt Romney is clearly declining to criticize Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Republican from Utah said after reading the notes of the call between then-President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine and Trump that focusing on whether there was technically a quid-pro-quo of U.S. aid in exchange for an investigation of the Biden family might be misplaced.

“If the president of the United States asks, or presses, the leader of a foreign country to carry out an investigation of a political nature, that’s troubling, and I feel that,” Romney said. “Clearly if there were a quid-pro-quo, that would take it to an entirely more extreme level.”

Romney, speaking at an event hosted by The Atlantic, also said he did not want to prejudge the decisions being made by the Democrat-led House.

“The consequences are being considered by the House, and I’m not going to give advice to Speaker Pelosi. She’s going to do whatever she thinks is in the best interests of the country — and in the best interests of her position in power and her party,” said Romney. “She’s pursuing that. We’ll see where that leads. There will be additional information that comes out as the whistleblower is heard from.”

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Romney said he knew that many would view the discussions through a partisan prism.

“Both parties feel very deeply that if the other party were in charge, that terrible things would happen for the country and for the people, that it’s critical for them to hold on to their leadership so that those awful things that Bernie Sanders is talking about won’t come to pass,” Romney said. “I think it’s just a human nature to see things in a way that is consistent with your own world view and your sense of what’s necessary for the preservation of your position in power.

“I don’t know why I’m not afflicted to perhaps the same degree as others are in that regard. Maybe it’s because I’m old,” Romney said.

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