While Sen. Mitt Romney’s colleagues have said the Utah senator’s vote was a personal choice and one they generally respect, behind the scenes there is significant frustration with his decision to vote to convict President Trump.
Romney did not tell any colleagues about his decision in advance of the speech this afternoon.
Yet his team did craft press rollout — several print interviews and a TV interview embargoed until his delivery — that has irked colleagues.
“I’ll give him this: professional rollout,” one GOP Senator told CNN. “Not very collegial, but very professional.”
A bigger issue, several GOP aides said, was the possibility Romney’s decision would step on the headline of the President’s acquittal in the press.
“All you guys are going to lead with Romney,” one senior GOP aide said. “Not the fact the President was acquitted and is through with this.”
Before the vote, members of GOP leadership had emitted a confidence that Romney would vote with them only to leave them all surprised watching TV.
To be clear, Romney was at the point where he owed his colleagues little.
His pleas for witnesses and documents in closed-door meetings in the final week were largely scoffed at and ignored, according to people in the room.