Though President Donald Trump managed to keep nearly all Senate Republicans in line to acquit him of the articles of impeachment, there was one defector: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who prefaced his vote with an emotional speech about how convincing the evidence was that he had abused his power in pursuit of a conspiracy theory about former Vice President Joe Biden's family.
Now, according to Politico, Trump is trying to discredit Romney — by making him part of the grand Biden/Ukraine conspiracy theory.
"Trump over the weekend retweeted several conservative personalities and stories attempting to connect the Republican senator to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and its former board member Hunter Biden, two parties at the center of Trump’s attempted quid pro quo," wrote Tina Nguyen for Politico. "The allegation was featured in several far-right blog posts: A senior advisor from Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign was on Burisma’s board of directors, and that by voting to impeach Trump last week, Romney was covering for his fellow swamp crony."
"While Trump’s campaign had highlighted the allegation earlier, the post-impeachment flurry of tweets was the first time that Trump himself acknowledged the theory," continued the article. "At one point, the president retweeted a random follower’s newfound suspicion: "Romney is covering up his part in corruption in Ukraine. This has nothing to do with truth or God. He is a desperate man. The truth will come out."
While Romney has received praise from much of his own electorate in Utah, where Trump was never popular, he has been facing virtual excommunication from many wings of the GOP following his vote to convict the president of abuse of power. GOP lobbyist Matt Schlapp has denied him credentials at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, and even warned that he cannot guarantee Romney's "safety" if he decides to attend.