Romney break ranks with Republicans on Trump conviction

WASHINGTON

Senator Mitt Romney became the first Republican on Wednesday to announce he would vote to convict U.S. President Donald Trump on at least one article of impeachment he is facing.

"The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust," Romney said on the Senate floor while announcing his forthcoming vote, explaining he faced mounting pressure in previous weeks to "stand with the team."

The move dashed Republican hopes of maintaining a united front.

"I can assure you that that thought has been very much on my mind," the Utah senator said. "But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and political biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end it would, I fear, expose my character to history's rebuke and the censure of my own conscience," he said.

An oftentimes critic of the president, Romney had been eyed as the Republican senator most likely to break ranks with his party and support Trump's removal from office. But given the two-thirds majority needed for that to happen Democrats are near certain to fail to gain the necessary support from across the aisle.

Democrats hold just 47 seats in the 100-member chamber and are likely to present a united front in voting to convict the president on the two charges against him -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The charges are tied to Trump's repeated attempts to have Ukraine publicly declare criminal investigation into the leading Democrat in this year's presidential election, and his subsequent refusal to cooperate in the House of Representatives' investigation of the matter.

"Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive of one's oath of office that I can imagine," Romney said.

A final vote on the charges is expected later Wednesday after senators are sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump's acquittal is almost certain with nearly all of the Senate's 53 Republicans indicating they will not vote to convict the president.

Neither the White House nor Trump immediately reacted to Romney's announcement, and a scheduled press availability with the president was abruptly cancelled at the last minute.