Mitt Romney.Photo: Alex Wong/Getty
The same impeachment vote that drew scorn from the GOP base has now made Sen.Mitt Romneya winner of the Profile in Courage Award.
Romney, 74, is the 2021 recipient of the annualProfile in Courage Award, the foundation announced on Friday.
He will formally receive the award at a virtual ceremony in May.
“The 2021 Profile in Courage Award goes to Senator Mitt Romney for his vote to convict President Donald J. Trump in 2020, and his consistent and courageous defense of democracy,” the official announcement reads. “As the first Senator to have evervoted to convict a President of his own party, Senator Romney’s courageous stand was historic.”
Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy’s daughter, said in a statement that Romney’s “commitment to our Constitution makes him a worthy successor to the Senators who inspired my father to writeProfiles in Courage. He reminds us that our Democracy depends on the courage, conscience and character of our elected officials.”
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Mitt Romney.Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
In theinterview withNBC News’Peter Alexander, Romney acknowledged there was “no question” that “there are a few people that are not happy with me” after facing widespread opposition from his fellow party membersand many supporters of Trump, 74, for voting to convict.
Though Romney said he “understand[s] that that’s the nature of the job that I’ve got,” he has “absolutely” no regrets about his guilty vote against the former president, who went on to face impeachment a second time, earlier this year, in the wake of theU.S. Capitol attackon Jan. 6
Trump, who insisted his behavior was protected free speech after he encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol,was acquittedin both Senate trials.
Romney twice voted to convict Trump, and several other Republicans joined him in the second trial.
“I sleep well because I know that I did what my conscience told me was the right thing to do,” Romney said onToday.
“We swore, under God, that we would apply impartial justice. I took that very, very seriously,” Romney said. “I listened to the various testimonies that were provided … and I felt that that was a severe enough violation of his oath of officeto require a guilty verdict.”
Mitt Romney (L); Donald Trump.Felix Hörhager/picture alliance via Getty; MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty
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Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who has long been a vocal critic of Trump’s, confirmed in October thathe did not vote for Trumpin November. (Trump, for his part, ridiculed Romney as a “pompous ‘a–.’ “)
Nonetheless, Romney recently said he expects that Trump “will continue to play a role in” the Republican Party going forward.
Asked if he would campaign against Trump in the future, Romney (who once met with Trump about becoming secretary of state) said he would “not be voting for President Trump again — I haven’t voted for him in the past — and I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent.”
source: people.com
