President Trump on Sunday explained to reporters why Senator Mitt Romney was excluded from a White House task force on opening up the economy during the coronavirus crisis.
The administration announced last week a panel of congressional members known as the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.”
Those chosen to discuss supply chains, the Paycheck Protection Program and “ways to energize the economy,” included several Democrat lawmakers as well as all 52 of Romney’s GOP colleagues.
Mitt was on the outside looking in.
Doesn’t Need His Advice
The President was first asked if Romney being left off the task force meant he was holding a grudge against the only Republican to vote for his impeachment.
“Yeah it does,” he replied.
Trump then explained why Romney, an accomplished businessman and former governor, was left out. It was a short answer, but sometimes simple is better.
“I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney,” he concluded. “I don’t really want his advice.”
“Yeah it does,” Trump says when asked if he still holds a grudge against Mitt Romney after he was the only GOP senator excluded from congressional task force for reopening America.
“I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney. I don’t really want his advice,” he adds. https://t.co/XZjy4W2xnx pic.twitter.com/AbqGSJyrpE
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 20, 2020
RELATED: Romney Is The Only Republican Senator Excluded From New White House Coronavirus Task Force
Who Needs His Advice
Romney (R-UT) was the only Senator to cross party lines and vote to convict President Trump in the Senate impeachment trial. The same trial that took media and congressional focus off of the coronavirus pandemic that was brewing at the time.
Perhaps had Congress been formulating a plan to stem the tide of the virus instead of focusing on an impeachment sham, there would have been less of an economic impact on America in the first place.
“It came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said of the pandemic. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment.”
Romney helped make that happen.
In response to question from the Salt Lake City Tribune, Pres Trump admits he deliberately excluded @SenatorRomney from his Reopen America advisory group. He included all Senate Republicans but Romney. “I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney. I really don’t want his advice,” said Trump.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 20, 2020
RELATED: President Trump Taunts Romney Over Coronavirus Test Results
Ineffective Romney
Let’s face it – Romney has no interest in helping the President accomplish anything. He only seeks to serve his own political ambitions.
When it benefitted his career, the one-time actual Republican was more than willing to accept Trump’s endorsement for President in 2012 and for Senate in 2018.
President Trump reacts to the news that Mitt Romney is self-quarantining. pic.twitter.com/FnHutc7xd4
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 22, 2020
Likewise, when he needed attention from his Democrat friends in Congress and the media, Romney votes to impeach and writes op-eds declaring he must “speak out against … actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”
Except, now he’s been neutered from having the ability to help out our country when we need it most.