Oz Says He Wouldn't Have Impeached Trump, Would've Certified Election Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Getty Images)
By Luca Cacciatore | Tuesday, 06 September 2022 04:29 PM EDT
Dr. Mehmet Oz told a news conference on Tuesday alongside incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that he would have voted against removing former President Donald Trump from office.
However, as the Republican nominee for the seat Toomey is vacating, Oz confirmed that he still would have certified President Joe Biden's victory in the controversial 2020 presidential election.
"I would not have objected to it," Oz said of the official election results. "By the time the delegates and those reports were sent to the U.S. Senate, our job was to approve it, which is what I would have done."
Oz later clarified that he did not see a reason for affirming the Democratic-controlled House's impeachment, which would have removed Trump from office, for the then-president's actions in and around the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
"I would not have voted in favor of impeaching President Trump. I think the President was already leaving office by then," Oz said. Toomey was one of seven Republican Senators who supported removing Trump at the time.
His seemingly lukewarm position on the events surrounding Jan. 6 and the second impeachment of Trump is in stark contrast to the former president himself — who has continued to make the two issues central to his endorsements.
Oz himself was endorsed by Trump in the heated Republican primary for the seat to potentially succeed Toomey, referring to him as "popular, respected, and smart," according to a statement.
The Republican nominee's Democratic opponent in November is Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who currently leads him by 6.5 percentage points in a RealClearPolitics average of polls conducted this cycle.