Sen. Mitt Romney — the sole Republican who voted to convict President Trump in his impeachment trial — was the only GOP senator not chosen to be on the congressional task force created by the White House to study the reopening of parts of the US amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The “Opening Up American Again Congressional Group” includes almost 70 senators, including a dozen Democrats and all 52 of the Utah lawmaker’s Republican colleagues in the upper chamber.
A spokeswoman for Romney confirmed to The Hill that the senator was not invited to take part in the task force.
Romney also was not included on a phone call on Thursday in which Trump spoke with senators of both parties about the coronavirus, a senior administration official told USA Today.
Asked about why Romney was not welcomed, the official simply said, “He wasn’t invited.”
Romney, the GOP’s nominee for president in 2012, has been a frequent critic of the president, who called him a “pompous ass” in a tweet after the senator criticized him for urging foreign leaders to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
He was the only GOP senator to vote to convict Trump of abuse of power, but the bad blood between the two goes back years.
The senator was critical of Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary — and Trump blasted Romney as “one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics.”
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