Romneys vote could set up another firestorm. Lets spring in chief Congressional Correspondent mike emanuel live from capitol hill. We are also tracking the moves of a few moderate democrat senators, doug jones of alabama, joe manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of arizona. Manchin floated the idea of censure, something less than impeachment. Today jones said he will vote to convict. After careful consideration of the evidence developed in the hearings, the public disclosures, Legal Precedents in the trial, i believe the president deliberately and unconstitutionally obstructed congress by refusing to cooperate with the investigation in any way. Republicans say its time to wrap it up. Its time to bring this fiasco to a close. It is time to end the cycle of retribution in payback and bitterness. Its time to end the abuse of our institutions, and its time to let the verdict of the people stay. Republicans expected to get to acquittal in a matter of a couple hours. Dana tell me about this possibility of more investigations going forward. The same topic or Something Different . Top democrats say they have been expecting an acquittal in itself like theyre not about to give up. We all know not to lose sight of our promise to defend it. The constitution establishes the vehicle of impeachment that has occupied both houses of our congress. We have labored to faithfully execute our responsibility is to it. It arrived at different judgments but i hope we respect each others good faith. The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious. As a senator juror, i swore an oath before god to exercise impartial justice. I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who i am. I take an oath before god as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president s, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision i have ever faced. I was not wrong. The house managers presented evidence supporting their case and the white House Counsel disputed that case. In addition, the president s presented three defenses, first there could be no impeachment without a statutory crime. Second, the bidens conduct to justify the president s actions, and third that the judgment of the president s action should be left to the voters. Let me first address those three defenses. The historic meaning of the words high crimes and misdemeanors, the writings of the founders, in my own recent judgment convinced me that a president can indeed commit acts against the public trust that are so egregious that while they are not statutory crimes, they would demand removal from offi office. To maintain that the lack of a codified and comprehensive list of all the outrageous acts that a president might conceivably commit renders congress powerless to remove such president defies reason. The president s counsel also notes that Vice President biden appeared to have a conflict of interest when he undertook an effort to remove the ukrainian prosecutor general. If he knew of the exorbitant compensation his son was receiving from a Company Actually under investigation, the Vice President should have recused himself. While ignoring a conflict of interest is not a crime, it is surely very wrong. With regards to hunter biden, taking excessive advantage of his fathers name is unsavory but also not a crime. Given that neither the case of the father nor the son was any evidence presented by the the president s counsel counsel that a crime had been committed, the president s insistence that they be investigated by the ukrainians is hard to explain other than as a political pursuit. There is no question in my mind that were their names not biden, the president would never have done what he did. The defense argues that the senate should leave the impeachment decision to the voters. While that logic is appealing to our democratic instincts, it is inconsistent with the constitutions requirement that the senate, not the voters, try the president. Hamilton explained that the founders decision to invest senators with this obligation rather than leave it to the voters was intended to minimize to the extent possible the partisan sentiments of the public at large. The verdict is ours to render under our constitution. The people will judge us for how well and faithfully will fulfill our duty. The great question that Constitution Task 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. The president asked a Foreign Government to investigate his political rival. The president withheld vital military funds from that government depress it to do so. The president delayed funds for an american ally at war with russian invaders. The president s purpose purpose was personal and political accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our National Security and our fundamental values. Correcting an election to keep oneself in office corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of ones oath of office that i could imagine. In the last several weeks, i received numerous calls and texts, many demanding that i stand with the team. I can assure you that thought has very much been on my mind. You see, i support a great deal of what the president has done. I voted with him 80 of the ti time. 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 comics was my character to historys rebuke i am aware there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision and in some quarters i will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe that i would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before god demanded it of me. I sought to hear testimony from john bolton not only because i believe he could add context to the charges but also because i hoped that what he might say could raise reasonable doubt and thus remove from me the awful obligation to vote for impeachment. Like each member of this deliberative body, i love our country. I believe that our constitution was inspired by providence. I am convinced that freedom itself is dependent on the strength and vitality of our national character, as it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction. We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but i trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience. I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the president from office. The results of the senate court will in fact be appealed to a higher court, the judgment of the american people. Voters will make the final decision, just as the president s lawyers have implored. My vote will likely be in the minority in the senate, but irrespective of these things, with my vote, i will tell my children and their children that i did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected of me. I will only be one name among many, no more, no less, to future generations of americans who look at the record of his trial. They will note merely that i was among the senators who determined that what the president did was wrong, grievously wrong. We are all footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful nation on earth, the nation conceived of liberty and justice, that distinction is enough for any citizen. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Dana there you have it, making some news. Utah senator republican mitt romney announcing that he will vote to convict President Trump. A short time ago, senator romney sat down exclusively with Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace. Chris joins us now from washington. Chris, obviously this is going to cause a lot of news in washington. Specifically he is voting on the abuse of power article, not the obstruction one . Chris thats right. We got a call from senator romneys Office Yesterday saying that he wanted to do one interview to discuss his decision and the blowback that he knows will flow from it. We sat down with the senator about 11 30 this morning. As you will see from the interview that we are about to show you, the conversation turned very serious very fast. Senator romney, thanks for talking with us. Thank you, chris. Good to be with you. Chris you decided to vote to convict the president but you knew that it wasnt going to pass. So i guess the direct question is, do you believe the donald trump is unfit to serve as president and should be removed from office . I believe the act he took, an effort to corrupt an election, is as destructive an attack on the oath of office and our constitution as i can imagine. It is a high crime and misdemeanor within the meaning of the constitution. Thats not a decision i take lightly. Its the last decision i want to take. The personal consequences, the political consequences that fall on me as a result of that are going to be extraordinary. But i swore an oath before god and i am a religious person, that i would imply impartial justice and implying impartial justice said what the president did was grievously wrong. I had to vote, if i was going to live with my own conscience in a way that was consistent with that oath of office. Chris again, do you believe that donald trump is unfit to serve as president and should be removed from office . I do believe he should be removed from office. Thats the vote that i will take in a while. Chris i want to go to the two main arguments. Donald trump was elected by 63 million americans. There is another election in less than nine months. As your colleague, senator Lamar Alexander said, let the people decide. Thats a refrain that i think rings true to our democratic years and our national and sticks. But the constitution demands otherwise. The constitution says the senate is to try it president or a judge that is impeached by the house. It indicated that the reason the senate is to do this is because the people at large would have partisan instincts and the size of those instincts on the size of those parties would determine guilt or innocence of the charge, not to people who were impartial. We swear an oath of impartial justice. It was not a responsibility. That i was willing to simply brush off and say i didnt want to take it. Chris the defense also said that to be an impeachable crime, to remove the president , it must be an actual crime or at least criminallike activity. The idea that it had to be a statutory crime i think is wrong, something by looking at the meaning of those words in the constitution at the time they were written as well as the writings of Alexander Hamilton and common sense. Theres no legislature in the world i could think of all the conceivable abuses a president mike conceivably make entering them all into statutes and say its illegal to do the following things. This is a circumstance where its hard for me to imagine a more serious attack on the constitution and on a republic like ours and saying that a president would be able to enlist a Foreign Government to corrupt our elections so that our president could keep in power, thats what happens in ten horned autocracies. It doesnt happen in the United States of america i felt without question that i had a responsibility if i was going to honor the oath i made before god to vote what i believe is right and by the way, i trust my colleagues in the senate did the same thing, that they follow their conscience as they understood it. I dont argue with them. I reached my own decision without deliberation with them but im convinced this is exactly right, at least in my heart. Chris why vote to acquit on the second article, the obstruction of congress. Congress should have pursued all legal avenues to receive the documents on the testimony that they wanted and they didnt pursue that. The president took a Legal Recourse and i dont believe that by virtue of taking a Legal Recourse that thats an impeachable offense. Let me note, i wanted to hear more witnesses. I wanted to hear john bolton and Mick Mulvaney because i hoped that they would say some of would raise a reasonable doubt that would make it so i wouldnt have to vote to convict. It was extraordinarily important to me. I hoped beyond hope as you might imagine that there would be evidence brought forward by the white house that would say he did not do the things that were alleged. Unfortunately that never came forward. Chris you talk about the consequences. You realize this is war. Donald trump will never forgive you for this. There is a hymn, do what is right and that the consequence follow. I know in my heart that im doing whats right. I understand theres going to be enormous consequence. I dont have a choice in that regard. Thats why i havent been anxious to be in the position im in. When i heard there was going to be an impeachment investigation, as i heard the evidence coming forward, i dreaded the responsibility i have. But i was not willing to abdicate the responsibility given to me by the constitution, nor to ignore my conscience out of personal and political significance. Considerations. I had to follow my conscience. Chris when you said in april that you were sickened, your words, by the Mueller Report and what it found about what the president had done, the president tweeted if mitt romney spent the same energy fighting barack obama back in 2012 as he does fighting donald trump, he could have won the race may be. Youve got to know thats nothing compared to what hes going to say about you now. Yeah. Again, i cant let personal considerations, if you will, overwhelm my conscience and overwhelm my oath to god. This for me, if you welcome of the most difficult decision ive ever made in my life. Theres been nothing that compares to this. Chris what about the blowback from the president . I understand it will be substantial and i have to recognize that it was one or the other. One is to say i dont want to face the blowback, not just from the president but for my party, my state, from republican voters. They will ascribe all sorts of motives and so forth. And those are all the consequences. On the other side, there is, do you do what you know is right . Do you do what your conscience in your heart tells you . Do you abide by the oath that you swore to god . I believe in god and i believe i have a responsibility to put that first went to put all the other consequences behind. Chris we have touched on this but lets talk about your effectiveness in washington. When you voted, it seemed like a big deal then and it doesnt now, just to hear witnesses, you were disinvited from the conference, the new senator from georgia, kelly leffler, was a big romney donor, said you were trying to appease the left. Now youre going to be the only republican senator voting to convict the president. Its going to get pretty lonely in this town for you. Yeah its going to get very lonely. The consequences are significa significant. They are enough that it made it very difficult process for me. Theres not been a morning since this process began that i slept beyond 4 00. I have studied. I have looked at the testimony in detail, ive attempted to get every piece of information i could. I even contacted the white house through another person before the trial began that said please provide affidavits. Please let Mick Mulvaney and john bolton and others provide affidavit so you can raise reasonable doubt, so that you can prevent someone from having to vote in a way that will be awful for them and awful for the president. They didnt do that. They could have provided those things. That was not provided. Chris you have talked about the oath. I know you are a man of deep faith in you raised your right hand along with 99 other senators and swore to do impartial justice. How literally did you take that . I take it very literally. I take it as literally as we expect from every juror that sits in a criminal trial. Jurors and those criminal trials, we dont expect them to say well, the defendants of my race or my religion or my National Origin and therefore im going to vote with them. Going to vote with the team, if you will come im going to vote with my group. We dont expect that. We expect they will honor their oath to god that they will apply justice. I can expect nothing more of myself than i expected them. Chris you say this is the toughest decision youve ever had to make in your public life. Give us a sense, and you have, talking about getting up at four in the morning, how tough a decision this is. The inner turmoil you have felt, the stress, frankly the nerves and arriving where you have today. As you can imagine, ive spoken a good deal with my family because this will have consequence, the blowback will have consequences not just for me but for my family. My wife, my sons, my daughtersinlaw and my 24 grandkids. I havent spoke with the grandkids but ive spoke with my sons and daughters in law and wife extensively. We recognize the extent of the consequence. Thats why the burden has been so substantial. They all said youve got to do what you believe is right. There was no call to pull back or gee, this is going to be tough. They said do what you believe is right. During this process, i spent a lot of time making sure it was absolutely right on the evidence on what we heard that the president did what was alleged. Most of the people even among my colleagues said yeah, he did something that was wrong. I also looked to see whether the other defenses, leave it to the voters or it was all about the bidens are those things, its like were those exculpatory . Unfortunately in the work that i did coming concluded they were not. Chris finally, if this means the end of your political career. Well, friend of mine once said that the worst thing that ever happened to them politically had already happened. The worst thing that already happened me politically was losing the presidency in 2012. I have brought enough shoulders to be able to weather personal changes in my career, political or otherwise. What i dont have is the capacity to ignore my conscience. I dont have the capacity to say that what was wrong was not wrong. What the president did was grievously wrong. By the way, i say that at a time when i applaud whats happening with the economy. I agree with him 80 of the time. I dont dislike the president. We get along fine. Ive known him for years and years, well before either one of us was in politics. But i believe he made a very serious miscalculation of judgment. One that strikes at the very core of our constitution. In a setting like that, not to acknowledge that would place a greater burden on my conscience than on his. Chris senator romney, think you. Thanks, chris. Good to be with you. Chris mitt romney says he understands that some people will applaud his decision to convict the president and some people will condemn him. He said that he wrestled with his conscience and his faith and this was the only decision he can make and hes at peace with it. As he said in the interview, he understands washington is now going to be a lonely place for him. Dana so interesting, the whole thing is interesting. He says its grievously wrong. The tone and the demeanor was quite somber. Were going to try to turn it around for a little bit later but when we went to give his floor speech, there was a silence there, i thought we dropped the audio. He seems like he was getting choked up, knowing that he was about to announce what he says. He said it was the toughest decision of his life. Chris yes, he did. It was interesting. He came in and we were talking about, i have known the romneys for a long time. We were talking about his wife and kids and grandkids. We began the conversation, as i sat at the beginning, it got really serious. Even some of his staff said we knew this was in the works for some period of time. He had worked on his speech and we all thought but as he discussed it with us in the room at around 11 30 this morning, he said somehow the gravity of what he was doing both in terms of the president , voting to convict him, to remove him from office, although thats not going to happen, and also what it means for romneys own personal career. The gravity of all of that really hit home. Dana we have, this is the beginning of romneys floor speech when he just began. Look at the emotion. I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who i am. I take an oath before god as enormously consequential. Dana he said he was a very religious person. Hes going to be eating alone at the lunch table. Because the left, they are not going to be your new best friends, the democrats. He knows and hes very open, he knows that the president , as you said, chris, will never forgive him for it. Hes been disinvited from cpac and yet he did seem very much at peace with the decision. Chris yeah, i think he was at peace. I think the emotion that you saw was absolutely genuine. You cannot overstate the depth of mitt romneys faith. The degree to which this was a real challenge to his faith into his conscience. He could only see one way through it, only one way he could live with himself. Him it was a tough path, a tough decision. As i say, some people are going to applaud him. Some people will condemn him. The one thing i dont think anybody should doubt was that this was his deeply held belief about what he had to do. Dana also, tell me a little bit about the politics of it. Susan collins is one of the senators thats in a tough race in 2020. She was one of the ones that nobody knew exactly where she was going to go. She came down and she decided against witnesses and then announced on the floor in a speech where she also said let me tell you exactly how im thinking, how have come to this decision. Shes going to vote to acquit the president. Does this decision that mitt romney has just made make things tougher for her . You could imagine the democrats running against her in may and will use this against her. Chris Susan Collins is one of those people in a real purple state, swing state that faces problems, she voted to acquit the president. She voted to confirm brett kavanaugh. Shes always going to be in a tough spot. As far as mitt romneys political future is concerned, obviously he was just elected in 2018, not up until 2024. But i would tell you his just vote to agree to hear witnesses, some people in utah, a deeply red state and a state in which donald trump in the opinion polls is much more popular than mitt romney, some people were calling for a recall of him as a senator. I dont know how far thats going to go. But i think romney understands. He is 72 years old. This is going to be part of his legacy, and it may be part of his immediate political future and certainly as he indicated he knows that for him and his wife, and his five kids and five daughters in law and all of those 24 grandchildren, they are going to face some blowback from this. He said he consulted with all of them and he felt this was the right thing to do. Its as simple was that, the right thing to do. Dana chris, we are having one of those days. Stick around. Weve got some news. Pete buttigieg is now up a tenth of a point. Im reading it cold. Iowa is giving us 75 of the results. Buttigieg edges up a little bit. 26. 9 . Sanders at 25. 2. That is unchanged. Warren dropped to 18. 2 . Biden rose to 15. 6. As these other results come in, it seems fairly stable with buttigieg continuing to be in the lead. Chris i have to say i wonder about the wisdom of the Iowa Democratic party on a lot of fronts this week, but im a little surprised at this partial release that went from 62 to 71. Now its going to be 75 . Why not just wait, whatever it takes . A day or whatever and just give us the final results . The interesting thing about this, a lot of people said this is going to hurt. Whoever gets the iowa bounce, whoever wins, i think in a funny way its helping the people they did, particularly buttigieg and sanders. We wouldnt be talking about iowa anymore. The fact that we are getting the returns in slow motion of the course of three days, once again we are seeing a big graphic on the screen. Pupete buttigieg in the lead and Bernie Sanders in second place. Dana New Hampshire is six days away. There will be that vote. Probably one of the most important votes, important primaries they have held in recent elections. Chris Bernie Sanders he would think would have a huge homecourt advantage. He lives in vermont, right next door, to New Hampshire. Won by a sweeping margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hes by far the biggest Ground Organization in New Hampshire. It wouldnt be a big surprise for him to win there. It would be a big surprise if he didnt. People are going to want to see, how serious is pete buttigieg. He spent a lot of time, effort, money, organization and iowa. Hes a midwesterner. Kenny translated to the northeast . The other one whos got a tremendous amount writing all of this is joe biden. Very disappointing. The dishes at least fourth, may be fifthplace and iowa. He does that again in New Hampshire, i know hes going to south carolina, but hes going to run out of money fast. Hes got to do better than that. Dana its like trying to run a marathon with 20pound weights on your ankles. Chris, thank you for bringing the interview with mitt romney to us. We have that news and we will continue to talk about it. Chris wallace. See you on Fox News Sunday. Next we head to the white house where we are waiting for any reaction from President Trump and then we are back to capitol hill to hear from one of senator romneys republican colleagues, florida senator rick scott. As parents of six, this network is one less thing i have to worry about. vo why the aceves family chose verizon. We all use our phones very differently. These two are always gaming and this one is always on facetime. And my oldest is learning to be a pilot. We need a Reliable Network because i need to know hes safe. As soon as he lands, he knows he better call mama. Mama vo the network more people rely on, gives you more. Like plans your family can mix and match starting at just 35. And apple music on us. Plus, up to 700 off the latest iphone when you switch. Thats verizon. I need all the breaks as athat i can get. Or, at liberty butchemel. Cut. Liberty mu. Line . Cut. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Cut. Liberty m. Am i allowed to riff . What if i come out of the water . Liberty biberty. Cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. An appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our National Security, and our fundamental values. Dana that was the news that broke this hour. Lets bring in chief White House Correspondent john roberts. You are live on the north lawn. I know that the president was about to have reporters into the oval office to listen to juan guaido, his guests at the state of the union last night, of course we recognize him as the president of venezuela. But then it was canceled about midway through mitt romneys interview with Chris Wallace. It was canceled before the interview with Chris Wallace ran, it was after romney made his speech on the senate floor. The president and welcome to juan guaido, interim president of venezuela. They were just about to go in for what we call the cool spray to the oval office and it was canceled. I asked one of the white house staffers was it canceled because of romney or was it canceled because of something else. I was told the president decided he didnt want to do it. May have had something to do with romney. It may have had something to do with the idea that may be the president thought it best not to say anything before the vote this afternoon at 4 00. Of course, the two men have had a contentious history since President Trump got into the race in 2016. President trump made numerous references to mitt romney during his president ial campaign choking like a dog, mitt romney famously tweeted donald trump is a phony, frog, his promises are worth nothing more than a degree from trump university. President trump did support mitt romney and his bid for the senate in utah in 2018. As Chris Wallace pointed out, new utah policy survey has got the president s Approval Rating in the state of utah in the majority for the very first time. 52 asked in utah support the president. Only 46 of people support mitt romney. Ronna mcdaniel, who is mitt romneys niece, said she disagrees with her uncle in a statement saying the Republican Party is more united than ever behind him. I along with the g. O. P. Stand with President Trump. I think the white house was hoping that mitt romney was going to vote to acquit. They are probably not surprised that hes now going to vote to convict. He will go down in history as the first member of the president s own party in u. S. History to vote to convict the president on grounds of impeachment. That puts him in a class all his own. Dana he said he understood the gravity of the decision that he hasnt slept past 4 00 a. M. He said it was the toughest decision of his life. We will get more reaction. It is going to be rough for him, no question. Dana republican senator rick scott of florida joins me now from capitol hill. Let me get your initial thoughts on mitt romney giving these comments on the senate floor. Clearly i disagree with him. I think its unfortunate that hes bought into adam schiffs impeachment charade which is what it was. The House Democrats clearly didnt prove the case. But lets get it behind us lets go forward. The president is not going to be convicted today. Mitt romney elected by the citizens of utah and im sure he knows this. He will be judged by the citizens of utah. Dana do you respect him, though, for basically saying that he had wrestled with it. He came to the conclusion that he had to respect his conscience and he talked a lot about his faith . Well, i think every senator gets elected with whatever their beliefs are. I think everybody has a right to make decisions that they believe in. What i am disappointed as when you look back at what a lot of these people said in 1999 during the clinton impeachment and they say just the opposite now. They are complete hypocrites. Dana that goes both ways. Schumer and things like that. Yeah. I think about that every day. I want to be consistent with what im saying. Dana moments ago, senator, my producers are telling me that adam schiff, the intel chairman on the house side, just said that mitt romneys decision shows moral courage. But the left has been pretty harsh against mitt romney, if you think back to the 2012 election and the things they said about him then. This is a guy who feels pretty lonely today. Do you think it hurts at all for any of those senators in swing states on the republican side, trying to win reelection in 2020. You know democrats are probably going to use mitt romneys decision against them. I think every race is going to be decided. My race last year, little over a year ago, the issues going on in florida at the time. I dont know if it will have an impact on anybody elses race. I want to go forward. The president had a great speech last night. He talked about a lot of things that happened in the last three years. He has lived up to what he said he was going to do. As we saw with pelosi was childish and petty. Dana i want to ask about the feeling of the room. Peggy noonan from the wall street journal, she had a tweet that was talking about the partisan divisions. Not even being massed anymore. Nobodys even trying to be polite. I wonder as a viewer, it seemed like i could feel it. I wonder what it felt like in the room. I couldnt believe so many of the democrats wouldnt stand up for some of the individuals that were recognized. Every one of those individuals that was recognized, you have to really feel good about it, the little girl that got the opportunity, the scholarship, the young man that wants to go to space. The soldier came back. Who couldnt stand up for everyone of those things . Democrats didnt. I dont get what they were doing. It was so disrespectful, not just to the president but the office of the president but to those individuals and what they stood for. Dana did you see the speaker rip up this feature did you hear about it later . I saw it. I was sitting sort of to the left of where the president was speaking. You could see it immediately and i thought why would you how petty, how childish. What was the benefit of doing that . I dont know why, the politics and what they are. I wish it wasnt. I am committed to getting stuff done. I came up here dont work hard and get stuff done. Thats what i did as governor. Dana did it concern you, there wasnt a lot of fiscal conservatism in the speech last night. Its really disappointing. I cut taxes on most 100 times, paid off the state that when i was governor. Up here we are running trillion dollar deficits and theres not even a conversation about it. Dana do you bring it up with the president . The guy talk to everybody. Im on the budget committee. I know that others are frustrated. Even with his budget deal in december, i think we only got dana i have a new tweet here from the congressman from new york, lee zeldin, this is about mitt romney. He said mitt romney despises that donald trump was elected president and he was not. The sore loser mentality latch this shame impeachment. It looks like schiff recruited himself a sore loser buddy on the g. O. P. Side to play along. That is the kind of criticism mitt romney said he was going to expect. Do you think it will be a permanent thing and nobody will want to work with mitt romney again . He did vote 80 with the president. I hope people can get behind it. Its very partisan. Its hurt a lot of peoples feelings, this whole process. I hope we start doing things good like cut drug prices. People with previous conditions, secure the border. Dana a lot to do. There is a lot to do. I hope thats what we do. Dana senator rick scott, we appreciate you joining us. More the breaking news on capitol hill. Republican senator mitt romney saying he will vote to convict the president on one of the articles. Reaction from the rnc, up next. Four years ago. I felt awful. Because of my psoriasis. I was covered from. Head to toe with it. I was afraid. To show my skin. Every time i moved my arm. My skin cracked and bled. It really hurt. Then i started. Cosentyx. That was four years ago. How are you . Now, i dont really think about it. See me. 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Chairwoman of the rnc and niece of senator romney, Ronna Mcdaniel saying this is not the first time i disagreed with mitt and i imagine it will be the last. President trump has done nothing wrong and the Republican Party is united behind him. That is from the daughter of mitt romneys brother. Lets bring in marc thiessen, Fox News Contributor, American EnterpriseInstitute Fellow and former speechwriter for president george w. Bush. We were going to talk about the state of the union and now we have this news. We now know, you can imagine that the rnc chairperson, even though she is related to mitt romney, would Say Something like that defending the president. He had a very different take. He said its the most difficult decision of his life. Hasnt slept past 4 00 a. M. And month send he said it was grievously wrong what the president did and he also knew this was going to have tremendous consequences and blowback from the republicans against him. I dont doubt his sincerity, inc. The decision. He said hes embracing for blowback. The best thing President Trump can do is ignore him. The story of the day is Donald Trumps acquittal on these charges. He should not feel the medias interest in distracting from that are making mitt romney the story of the day by attacking him. Its interesting, listening to the interview and his statement on the floor, he said i know im in the minority in the senate. Hes not just in the minority in the senate. Hes in the minority in the country. If you look at the gallup poll that just came out, when this impeachment inquiry started in october of last year, 39 of americans approved of Donald Trumps performance. Its risen ten points to 49 , an alltime high. In october when the impeachment inquiry started, 46 , 46 said trump should not be removed. Today, 52 majority. The start of the impeachment inquiry in october, 41 of americans said trump should be reelected and now its 50 . The entire process of the impeachment inquiry, everybody looking at the same evidence, the same testimony, the same presentations as mitt romney, the majority of americans have come to the opposite conclusion of him . He is irrelevant. Ignore him. Trump is being acquitted. Dana the president also had gallup numbers about the economy and you saw the democrats last night sitting on their hands, not wanting to clap for things that are facts. It is the lowest unemployment. It is the highest employment for africanamericans and hispanics. Those are facts. The partisan atmosphere last night was really thick. You could almost feel it blocks away. Its unbelievable. Dana, you and i worked in the white house. We worked on state of the Union Addresses. One thing that everybody saw the image of nancy pelosi tearing up the speech which in and of itself was petulant and insulting. Not just for the president for the people mentioned in the speech. What i noticed immediately was the tradition is when the president is introduced to the house chamber, every speaker from the beginning of the state of the Union Address being a televised address, members of congress, its my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce the president of the United States. She wouldnt say that. Dana what do you think about the video, she accepts the speech, reaches out her hand, and he doesnt shake it. Some people say he didnt see it. She almost had the upper hand there. He also didnt shake mike pences hand. Handed her the speech. Dana he sees mike pence all the time. I dont know if thats the tradition. I guess so. If he didnt shake her hand, he shouldve shaken her hand. Dana reported that pelosi and trump havent spoken since october. Theres a broken relationship for sure. Last word. I think he showed incredible discipline yesterday. He didnt mention impeachment. He couldve started out by saying instill the president of the United States, and that wouldve gotten he huge applause. Dana i was waiting for something funny but he avoided it. Up next, the allstar panel weighs in ons decision to convict. That weve ever offered. At newday, veterans can refinance their mortgage with no income verification, no appraisal and no out of pocket expenses. And weve extended our Call Center Hours so that every veteran can take advantage of these near record low rates. She is on her way to our house. What . I got it. Alexa, start roomba. The lexus es. Eagerly prepared for the unexpected. Lease the 2020 es 350 for 389 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. We need you on site right now. Fox nation. Fox nation. A new Entertainment Service for the folks over at fox news that celebrates america, start your free trial today. Dana this just in, the president son donald trump jr. , tweeting that romney is a member of the resistance and should be expelled from the g. O. P. Lets bring in marie harf, Fox News Contributor and executor director. Matt gorman, former ncc communications director. Now a target victory. Let me start with you, matt, can you expel somebody from the g. O. P. . Not that i know of. Look, when it comes to dana i know that they are mad and frustrated, but as mark the goossens just suggested, maybe they just ignore him. Mitt romney knows that will not happen, walk me through your thinking, you other the republican politics very well. Speak a look, i worked for senator ronnie, the most decent man i have ever worked for. I am surprised, and also not surprised. I really did think that all of the republican senators were going to vote together to acquit. I thought that senator romney would follow the lien of Susan Collins, or dana murkowski . Yes, exactly, that it was wrong, but not impeachable, but mitt will do what he thinks is right, certainly the rest of the party disagrees, but he is an extremely decent man. Dana marie, the democrats are not fans of mitt romney, i imagine in the next 20 hours there will be some strange new respect for him. Adam schiff saying that mitt romney showed moral courage, how long will it last that they respect mitt romney . I think it will last for a very long time, dana. I worked on the 2012 president ial campaign for president obama, where we worked very hard to defeat mitt romney, but watching him today i was getting choked up and very emotional. I think he cemented his place as a statesman in american history. It is so rare that we see politicians clearly acting against their political interests because they believe that it is right and the right principle. And he did that today. And look, if there is not room in the Republican Party for somebody for mitt romney who is a trick doing a true conservative, the Party Going Forward will have huge electoral problems with the way the demographics are in the way that they are changing. This is an interesting thing to watch. Dana we can talk about party purity in the last few weeks, pete buttigieg, mayor pete is doing well in the eye will result that said there is no room for prolife proponents in the democratic party. But we will save that for another day. Let me ask you about this. Mitt romney is basically, i think, putting Something Like a senator collins and a little bit of a box. It is partly because, and you work for him, he is not a natural politician. This is a guy who was a manager and at the olympics and wanted to do good policy, but political expediency is not his strong point. No, you are right. He was a fantastic candidate in 2012. But i think at the end of the day very close to people at the Senate Committee and we have to make sure that we hold the senate so that we can confirm judges. Withholding the senate was in large part, not entirely, but the fact that impeachment was not a lot closer, 67 votes is not a majority. I did see pulling out of maine around 60 of independents that want to move on with impeachment and get to health care and other issues. Susan collins knows that state and the polling also belies that people want to move on from impeachment as well. Dana thank you. Of busy news hour today. We are on a street. Thank you for joining us. I am dana perino, we will see you on the five that will be in a couple of hours. Meanwhile heres bill hemmer. Bill dana, thank you. Our reporting starts now, one republican will break ranks today. One hour from now, 100 senators vote on the articles of impeachment, mitt romney explaining his decision with our Chris Wallace. You say that this is the toughest decision you have ever had to make in your public life. I have spoken a good deal with my family, because this will have consequences. Blowback of consequence not just for me, but for my family. For my wife, my son, my daughtersinlaw, my 24 grandkids, they all said you have to do what you think is right. Bill this says that time is up for senators to speak on the floor before impeachment at 4 00 eastern time. In