President Trump swatted at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) during a White House event with governors from across the country Monday, telling Utah’s governor “we don’t want him.”
“How’s Mitt Romney? You keep him. We don’t want him,” Trump said to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) at the event focusing on business.
Trump then smiled, telling Herbert to “go ahead” and that he was “doing a great job in Utah.” Herbert didn’t respond to the dig and instead asked the president a question about the growing national debt.
Trump has taken aim at Romney on Twitter and in public remarks over the past few days, since the Utah senator voted to remove Trump from office — the only Republican senator to do so during the impeachment trial.
Romney voted to convict Trump on the charge of abuse of power and to acquit the president on a second charge of obstruction of Congress.
The move disrupted GOP unity on Trump’s acquittal, and the senator immediately became the target of criticism from the president and White House allies.
“Romney hurt some very good Republican Senators, and he was wrong about the Impeachment Hoax,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “No clue!”
Trump also took a veiled shot at Romney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for invoking their faith in talking about his impeachment, during remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, one day after the GOP-controlled Senate voted to acquit him on both charges.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said during those remarks on Thursday. “Nor do I like people who say ‘I pray for you’ when they know that’s not so.”
Romney said in an interview with local station KSL on Sunday that he “thoroughly studied” evidence put forth by House impeachment managers and the president’s defense team in reaching his decision, ultimately deciding the president was guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
“Well, I took my responsibility exactly as the Constitution defines it and as the oath I took requires it,” Romney said. “Which is what I was sworn before God to apply impartial justice as a Senate juror.”