Wait, Mitt Romney did what?
Utah Senator Mitt Romney experienced a brief moment of praise from liberals when he decided to vote to convict Trump on one of the impeachment charges brought against him by the House of Representatives. I never thought much of his decision, especially considering there was no real risk Trump would be convicted by the Republican-majority Senate. When it comes to criticizing the Trump administration and the Republican establishment du jour, Romney has a history of talking the talk and very much not walking the walk.
It should come as no surprise then that Romney is set to vote for a subpoena that demands records concerning Hunter Biden’s work with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
Via Politico: “‘Senator Romney has expressed his concerns to Chairman Johnson, who has confirmed that any interview of the witness would occur in a closed setting without a hearing or public spectacle,’ Romney’s spokeswoman Liz Johnson said. ‘He will therefore vote to let the chairman proceed to obtain the documents that have been offered.’”
The subpoena is going to be issued by the Senate Homeland Security Committee as a part of their investigation into Hunter Biden, son of democratic candidate for president, Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has tried to weaponize Hunter Biden’s connection to Burisma — indeed Trump’s extortionate request to the president of Ukraine for a public investigation into Hunter was what triggered the House’s impeachment inquiry against Trump. Now that Trump’s off the hook, it looks like he’s set to have the Senate do what the Ukraine didn’t.
And the brings us back to Mitt Romney. Romney, the single Republican senator who voted to convict Trump on his extortionate demand to the Ukrainian president to investigate Hunter Biden, is now the deciding vote on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to investigate Hunter Biden’s Ukraine connection. That’s the kind of brain genius Romney is.
This pointless and idiotic partisan subpoena comes in the face of not just experts saying Hunter Biden did nothing wrong, but a former Ukrainian prosecutor saying, quote: “he did not violate anything.” Hunter Biden is guilty of what many children of the rich and famous are: getting jobs and deals simply because they are the pampered offspring of someone prominent. Even glossing over the eyewatering hypocrisy of letting Trump’s offspring do this sort of pampered brat nonsense countless times over again, Hunter Biden’s particular connection to Burisma was innocuous.
With all this in mind, Romney’s decision here is evidence of what I’ve said all along: Romney is as much a part of the Trump problem as every other Republican senator. He’s not some kind of renegade; he’s not going to save the day when it really counts. Romney is a swamp creature. If he ever had a moral compass, it was lost decades ago.
Democracy thrives in snarkiness