President Trump on Sunday said he intentionally left Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) off his congressional task force on reopening the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus, acknowledging it shows he still holds a grudge over the senator’s impeachment vote.
The president included every Republican senator on the task force except Romney, who voted to convict Trump for abuse of power. Asked if his exclusion shows he’s still holding a grudge, Trump said, “Yeah, it does.”
“I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney,” Trump said, adding, “I don’t really want his advice.”
The White House on Thursday released the members of its “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.” The list included nearly 70 senators, including all 52 of Romney’s GOP colleagues in the chamber.
A spokeswoman for Romney and a source familiar confirmed that the GOP senator was not asked to take part in the task force. Romney is a former governor, private sector executive and presidential candidate.
Romney was the only GOP senator to vote for one of the articles during the Senate impeachment trial earlier this year. Trump has repeatedly referenced the vote in chiding Romney, at one point swiping at the Mormon senator’s use of religion to explain his reasoning for the vote.
There has been animosity between the two dating back years. After courting his support in 2012, Romney was fiercely critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign.
The two appeared to reconcile, with Trump considering Romney for a Cabinet post and endorsing his Senate bid in 2018. But the relationship appears to have deteriorated beyond repair with the impeachment vote.