MSNBC journalists on Wednesday responded with excitement to the news that Mitt Romney will vote to convict and remove Donald Trump from office. Brian Williams cheered that the move as “historic” and will “cement Romney’s legacy.” Reporter Garrett Haake touted it as “unlocking his super power.”
Williams, who famously lost his job as anchor of the NBC Nightly News for telling lies, marveled at taking seriously one’s oath: “How about a guy willing to talk about the consequences of taking an oath before his God?”
Despite the fact that the move to convict will still lose overwhelmingly, Williams praised, “Mitt Romney, of course, the former Republican nominee. In the moment, as he was speaking, it felt historic, indeed. It will cement Senator Romney's legacy and stain what the White House was no doubt hoping a clean party line acquittal today.”
Haake brought up super powers:
This was a moment that people who have known Mitt Romney for a long time have thought that he was capable of and not always seen. Right? Nobody's won big money betting on Mitt Romney to take big, bold, public stands away from his own political self interest. That's not something that he's done throughout the course of the career. But as long as I have known him and covered him and known his family the thought is that he is a good, decent people deep down inside and I thought from the minute that the Senators took the oath that swearing an oath before God for Mitt Romney is like unlocking his super power.
Co-host Nicolle Wallace touted Romney as the new John McCain: “Romney stood in the well and he seemed to be reaching for the ghost of John McCain. I'll let the family of Senator John McCain decide whether he touched it.”
Williams tried act as historian, insisting that Romney is “the first senator ever to cross party lines and vote to remove a president from his own party.” While this can be technically true, it’s also misleading on intent. Barry Goldwater and other Republicans in 1974 went to the White House and told Richard Nixon they would vote to convict him in a Senate trial over Watergate.
A transcript of the relevant section can be found below. Click "expand" to read more:
Live impeachment coverage
02/05/2020
3:01 p.m. Eastern
BRIAN WILLIAMS: One hour from now on the senate floor, the final vote in the President's impeachment trial. The culmination of this Washington drama that started over four months ago with the whistle-blower complaint to Congress. Just in the past hour, a final twist, a surprise announcement from Republican Senator Mitt Romney that he will vote to convict the President for abuse of power, the first senator ever to cross party lines and vote to remove a president from his own party. The revelation come in a searing, at times emotional, speech in the Senate chamber. Senator Romney admitting the Democrats proved their case against this President.
(....)
WILLIAMS: Mitt Romney, of course, the former Republican nominee. In the moment, as he was speaking, it felt historic, indeed. It will cement Senator Romney's legacy and stain what the White House was no doubt hoping a clean party line acquittal today, despite the party's refusal to hear from witnesses, or admit new documents into evidence. Democrats are taking pains to draw a distinction likely to become a refrain in the coming weeks and months that today's acquittal does not equal an exoneration for the President who will remain impeached forever.
(....)
NICOLLE WALLACE: Romney stood in the well and he seemed to be reaching for the ghost of John McCain. I'll let the family of Senator John McCain decide whether he touched it. But I think that what Mitt Romney today has ramifications in terms of staining not just the Trump presidency but today's GOP as corrupt, as blind and as willfully denying the truth that's about to be laid bare in John Bolton's book on March 17th.
WILLIAMS: How about a guy willing to talk about the consequences of taking an oath before his God?
WALLACE: That's all that this is supposed to be about. That's all that you're supposed to set out to do. I think that people in both parties are so exhausted by Trump's abuse of that simple thing. An oath before God.
(....)
3:06 p.m. Eastern
GARRETT HAAKE: This was a moment that people who have known Mitt Romney for a long time have thought that he was capable of and not always seen. Right? Nobody's won big money betting on Mitt Romney to take big, bold, public stands away from his own political self interest. That's not something that he's done throughout the course of the career but as long as I have known him and covered him and known his family the thought is that he is a good, decent people deep down inside and I thought from the minute that the Senators took the oath that swearing an oath before God for Mitt Romney is like unlocking his superpower.
