RNC chairwoman splits with uncle Mitt Romney: GOP stands ‘with President Trump’

Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) niece, split with her uncle Wednesday after he announced he would vote to convict President Trump on one article of impeachment.

“This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last. The bottom line is President Trump did nothing wrong, and the Republican Party is more united than ever behind him,” she tweeted.

“I, along with the @GOP, stand with President Trump.”

This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt, and I imagine it will not be the last.

The bottom line is President Trump did nothing wrong, and the Republican Party is more united than ever behind him.

I, along with the @GOP, stand with President Trump.

— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) February 5, 2020

The statement came after Romney, an elder statesman within the GOP and the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, broke ranks and announced he would vote to convict Trump on a charge of abuse of power.

“The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did,” Romney said on the Senate floor.

The Utah Republican expressed deep concerns with Trump’s alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, saying the delay of nearly $400 million in military aid was for his own “personal” and “political” benefit.

“The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault under electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values,” he said. 

While Romney has largely voted along party lines since his 2018 election, he has repeatedly voiced concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and conduct while in office. 

Romney and Trump have had an acrimonious relationship since the 2016 campaign when Romney called Trump a “con man, a fake” and “a phony, a fraud” in an effort to convince the GOP not to nominate him for the presidency.