Moments after voting with Democrats to call for additional witnesses in the impeachment trial, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (UT) found himself disinvited from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) by the event’s organizer. The president of the group has since said in a follow-up explanation about the decision that the senator was disinvited in part out of concern for his “physical safety” at the event.
Romney was the lone Republican to vote guilty on either of the Democrats’ two articles of impeachment against President Trump — in fact, he was the only senator from either party to break ranks at all during the two votes. Ahead of his “guilty” vote, which he described as an act of “an act of conviction,” Romney joined with fellow moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins (ME) to join Senate Democrats in voting for more witnesses and documents in the trial.
The vote sparked instant blowback from American Conservative Union president Matt Schlapp, who tweeted in response: “The ‘extreme conservative’ and Junior Senator from the great state of Utah, [Sen. Romney], is formally NOT invited to [CPAC 2020].”
BREAKING: The "extreme conservative" and Junior Senator from the great state of Utah, @SenatorRomney is formally NOT invited to #CPAC2020. pic.twitter.com/f35tYy73V1
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) January 31, 2020
In its initial report on the CPAC disinvite, The New York Post noted that Romney “used CPAC as a platform to woo the party’s base as he sought the Republican nomination in 2012, where he labeled himself a ‘severely conservative governor.'”
“On my watch, we fought hard and prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage,” Romney told the CPAC audience in 2012. “I fought against long odds in a deep-blue state, but I was a severely conservative governor.”
In an update on the CPAC disinvite story, the Post noted that Schlapp recently elaborated on the decision, citing fear for Romney’s “physical safety” as a reason he is not invited to attend the event at the end of February.
“This year, I’d actually be afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him,” Schlapp told former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on her show “Full Court Press” on Saturday.
“The biggest problem we have with Mitt Romney is not that he’s just an individual following his political course,” Schlapp added. “It’s the fact that he’s lied so continuously to conservatives.”
“When he needed a conservative like Donald Trump to endorse him in his Senate primary last time, he wanted him in,” he explained. “But then, when he gets the Senate job, he wants to distance himself from Trump. He’s a use-’em-and-lose-’em kind of guy.”
Many on the right, including some of his Republican colleagues, have slammed Romney for his decision to side with the Democrats, including on their first article of impeachment, “abuse of power,” which ultimately failed 48-52 (Romney voted to “not guilty” on the second article, “obstruction of Congress,” which failed 47-53). But the frequent Trump-critic says that he was simply doing his duty as an “impartial” juror and voting his conscience.
“As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise ‘impartial justice,'” Romney said in a statement ahead of his vote. “I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.”
Related: READ IT: Here’s The Note Romney Gave To Every Republican Ahead Of The Impeachment Vote