Trump impeachment hearings
Mitt Romney breaks with Republican senators, says there's no evidence suggesting Ukraine interfered in 2016 election
In what is becoming less and less of a surprise, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) veered off course from his fellow Republicans on an impeachment-related issue.
Some lawmakers — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is a notable example (though he somewhat walked back his comments) — have given credence to the unsupported theory that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 election, which was one of the reasons President Trump wanted Kyiv to launch investigations. The intelligence community, on the other hand, has largely settled on the notion that it was Russia that tried to meddle.
The GOP's mistrust in the intelligence community likely stems from efforts to stick by Trump amid the impeachment inquiry, but Romney doesn't seem to care. He's not buying the theory and said he hasn't seen evidence "of any kind" to support it.
The recent comments add to growing speculation that Romney may be the leading voice among Republicans who are willing to remove Trump if the impeachment proceedings do eventually result in a Senate trial, though questions remain as to just how effective that would be. Tim O'Donnell