Senators keep asking impeachment hypotheticals about Mitt Romney right in front of Mitt Romney


Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) probably doesn't need a lot of reminders about the 2012 election, but he's getting them anyway.
Romney on Wednesday was at the center of some hypothetical scenarios drawn up during the Senate's impeachment trial. First, the House's lead prosecutor Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) posed a scenario in which former President Barack Obama was caught asking former Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev for an investigation into Romney — Obama's 2012 presidential challenger — in exchange for military aid against Ukraine. He was trying to get senators to think about what the Republican response would be in a situation mirroring the exchange between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Afterwards, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pulled a similar trick, submitting a question to Schiff about whether Obama would have had the authority to ask for an investigation into Romney's son if he was being paid by a corrupt Russian company and "Romney had acted to benefit that company." In that instance, Romney and his son are playing the role of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, while the Russian company is a stand in for Ukrainian gas company, Burisma (there's no evidence the elder Biden did anything to benefit Burisma.)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
All this, of course, was said right in front of Romney, who despite losing the bid for the presidency, has since worked his way back into politics as a senator. The former Republican nominee, for what it's worth, was reportedly a good sport about the whole thing. Tim O'Donnell
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
'The answer isn't to shake faith in the dollar'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Dutch government falls over immigration policy
speed read The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition
-
The Week Junior Book Awards 2025 Shortlist Announced
The Week Junior Book Awards have unveiled the 2025 shortlist, celebrating the best in children’s literature across 13 categories.
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs