‘I don’t really want his advice’: Trump admits snubbing Romney for coronavirus task force
President Donald Trump on Sunday admitted he’s still holding a grudge against Mitt Romney, the only GOP senator to be left off a congressional task force on reopening the U.S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic.
In February, Romney broke ranks with his party, voting to impeach the president on a charge of abusing his power. Since then, Trump has called the Utah senator and former Massachusetts governor a “failed presidential candidate” — Romney was the Republican nominee in 2012 — and “one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics.”
The White House on Thursday released a list of lawmakers tapped for the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.” All 52 of Romney’s GOP Senate colleagues were on it, as well as several Democratic senators. A spokeswoman for Romney confirmed to The Hill that he was not asked to be on the task force.
Trump was asked by a reporter at Sunday’s coronavirus briefing at the White House whether leaving Romney off the list meant the president was holding a grudge. The president responded, “Yeah it does.”
“I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney,” he said. “You know, I have 52 Republican senators — ”
“He was a governor. You don’t want his advice?”
“Well, I just don’t think — you know, I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney. I don’t really want his advice,” Trump said.
The bad blood between Romney and the president has been brewing for years, dating back to Trump’s candidacy in 2016. Romney had ripped into Trump and pleaded with Americans not to make him the Republican nominee.
Though Trump later considered Romney for a Cabinet position and ended up endorsing his 2018 Senate bid, Romney has been one of the GOP’s highest-profile Trump critics, especially since the death of Sen. John McCain of Arizona and the retirements of Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
