Donald Trump slams Mitt Romney over criticism of Ukraine call
Donald Trump has taken aim at those within his party expressing concern over his chat with Ukraine but are Republicans set to turn on the US president?
Donald Trump has fired off at Republicans, especially Mitt Romney, for their lack of support over his conversation with Ukraine.
Mr Trump has come under attack, even from within his own party, for his conversation with Ukraine and also calling on China to investigate the Bidens.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney tweeted, “By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.”
Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse said in a statement to the Omaha World-Herald: “Americans don’t look to Chinese commies for the truth. If the Biden kid broke laws by selling his name to Beijing, that’s a matter for American courts, not communist tyrants running torture camps.”
Neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell nor House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded to requests for comment Friday.
Mr Trump fired back at Sen. Romney on Twitter: “Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics,” he wrote in tweets that also attacked Romney personally.
The so-called Whistleblowerâs account of my perfect phone call is âway off,â not even close. Schiff and Pelosi never thought I would release the transcript of the call. Got them by surprise, they got caught. This is a fraud against the American people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019
Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous âassâ who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didnât give it to him). He is so bad for Râs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019
While the president was breaking another political barrier, his party leaders have made no public effort to rein him in.
Critics have argued that reaction has only emboldened the president, while doing lasting damage to the party and the presidency.
Trump allies argue the president’s rule-breaking rhetoric is not as important as his policies, which they support.
But the silence this time also reflects a sharper dilemma for Republicans.
As Democrats pursue an impeachment investigation, Republicans have struggled with how best to shield themselves — and the unpredictable president who may decide their political fortunes — from the steady drip of new revelations.
With little guidance from the White House, politicians have tried to say as little as possible, blame Democrats or express vague optimism about the investigative process.
Some Republicans appeared eager for the controversy to simply not exist. “I don’t think it’s a real request,” Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a prominent China critic, told reporters on Friday. “I think he did it to get you guys. I think he did it to provoke you to ask me and others and get outraged by it.”
Sen. Rubio later tried to clean up his statement with a tweet. “Before we nullify the results of an election or dismiss some very serious accusations as an attempted coup, maybe it would be a good idea to try and gather all of the facts & then give some thought to what would be in the best interest of our country.”
His reference to “coup” theories was a backhanded chastisement of Mr Trump, who has used that term to describe the investigation.
The president and his defenders indicated he was quite serious on Thursday. Standing outside the White House, Mr Trump defended himself against allegations that he privately pressured Ukraine to investigate the Bidens by inviting a geopolitical rival to launch a probe.
“China should start an investigation into the Bidens,” Mr Trump said after being asked about trade negotiations with the country.
Mr Trump on Friday argued he was not specifically targeting a political foe, but merely pushing countries to clean up corruption.
Although there is no evidence that the Bidens were involved in criminal corruption in either Ukraine or China, Republicans quickly took up the explanation.
Sen. Romney tweeted the counter-argument: “When the only American citizen President Trump singles out for China’s investigation is his political opponent in the midst of the Democratic nomination process, it strains credulity to suggest that it is anything other than politically motivated.”
House Democrats are investigating whether Mr Trump abused his power when he pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into theories about Ukraine meddling in the 2016 and a separate allegation about Hunter Biden’s business ties.
The younger Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kiev.
Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.
The question of whether to dodge or defend is perhaps most critical for the Republican senators in competitive races next year.
Those Republicans have little incentive to criticise the president because they can’t risk alienating Mr Trump’s base voters.
But their futures also depend on peeling off enough swing voters who turned against Mr Trump last year. An impeachment vote will force them to pick sides — and lose some support.