Mitt Romney stunned Jake Tapper today when he actually defended President Trump. Tapper had Romney, a frequent Trump critic on today and was ready to ambush Mitt.
A GOP rep from Michigan, Justin Amash, came out and said Trump should be impeached so Tapper offered Mitt the bait with which to burnish his anti-Trump credentials.
Surprisingly, Mitt did not take the bait and did not trash Trump but rather defended him. We need more of this Mitt in the future, not the Jeff Flake version.
From The Federalist Papers: In a stunning move Utah senator, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has come to the defense of President Donald Trump.
Romney was on the CNN show “State Of The Union” when host Jake Tapper asked him about Republican Michigan Rep. Justin Amash’s call for impeachment.
“You and congressman Amash are the only two elected Republicans, I think, to express any misgivings about the behavior of the president or his campaign team based on the Mueller report.
“First of all, are you surprised you two are the only ones that have really said anything condemning of the president’s behavior as laid out?” Tapper said.
“I think every individual has to make their own judgment. I think it helps to actually have read the entire document. It’s a long document. It took me two full days to get through it.
“The second volume is more difficult to get through than the first. Hopefully more people read it. I think a lot of people want to reserve judgment until this is played out.
“My own view is that Justin Amash has reached a different conclusion than I have. I respect him. I think it’s a courageous statement.
“But I believe to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don’t have the elements that are evidenced in this document.
“And I also believe that an impeachment call is something that not just relates to the law but considers practicality and Politics.
“I think those considering impeachment have to look at the jury, which is the Senate. The Senate is certainly not there either,” Romney said.
“You disagree for the call for impeachment. You don’t think this necessarily rises to the level of impeachable offenses. You don’t think there’s sufficient evidence the president obstructed justice?” Tapper said.
“I just don’t think there is the full element you need to prove an obstruction of justice I don’t think a prosecutor would actually look at this and say, okay, we have here all the elements that would get this to a conviction.
“So, you know, everyone reaches their own conclusion. As I read the report, I was troubled by it. Was very disappointing for a number of reasons. But it did not suggest to me this was a time to call for impeachment,” Romney said.
“I think a number of things were unfortunate and distressing. Clearly the number of times there were items of dishonesty, misleading the American public and media are things you would not be want to see from the highest office in the land,” he said.
“Abuse of power is at a whole other level, which suggests impeachment. I think in part one of the things it’s difficult in order to make a case for obstruction of justice or impeachment is whether or not there was intent.
“And when there’s not an underlying crime, I think it’s difficult to put together an effective case to prosecute for those crimes,” he said.
