Sen. Mitt Romney Wins ‘JFK Profile In Courage Award’ For Voting To Impeach Trump
“The 2021 Profile in Courage Award goes to Senator Mitt Romney for his vote to convict President Donald J. Trump in 2020, and his consistent and courageous defense of democracy,” the JFK Library said. “As the first Senator to have ever voted to convict a President of his own party, Senator Romney’s courageous stand was historic. Despite facing unrelenting criticism and public antagonism following this vote, along with threats to his physical safety and demands that he be censured or expelled from the Republican party, Romney has continued to courageously defend the fundamental principles of democratic governance.”“Senator Romney’s commitment to our Constitution makes him a worthy successor to the Senators who inspired my father to write Profiles in Courage,” said former Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. “He reminds us that our Democracy depends on the courage, conscience and character of our elected officials.”
The award from the JFK Library Foundation is named after former President John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1957 book “Profiles in Courage,” most of which was written by Kennedy’s speechwriter Ted Sorenson, according to Sorenson’s 2008 autobiography. Recipients are often liberals, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who received it in 2019; former President Barack Obama, who won in 2017; or the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who took home the prize in 2001.
Romney was the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump during both of his impeachment trials.
As The Daily Wire reported:
“After careful consideration of the respective counsels’ arguments, I have concluded that President Trump is guilty of the charge made by the House of Representatives,” Romney began, adding that he believes Trump “attempted to corrupt the election by pressuring the Secretary of State of Georgia to falsify the election results in his state,” which is an allegation not covered in the impeachment article.
“President Trump incited the insurrection against Congress by using the power of his office to summon his supporters to Washington on January 6th and urging them to march on the Capitol during the counting of electoral votes,” Romney continued. “He did this despite the obvious and well known threats of violence that day.”
“President Trump also violated his oath of office by failing to protect the Capitol, the Vice President, and others in the Capitol,” Romney concluded. “Each and every one of these conclusions compels me to support conviction.”
Romney was also one of the five Republican senators to support calling in witnesses during the impeachment trial, a move that was later shelved shortly before the Senate vote. Romney and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) reportedly got into a heated back-and-forth on the Senate floor about the topic, which Romney later dismissed as an argument over underwear preference
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