SALT LAKE CITY — President Donald Trump acknowledged Sunday that he didn’t ask Sen. Mitt Romney to be on a bipartisan task force for reopening the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic because he has a grudge against the Utah Republican.
“Yeah, it does,” the president said in response to a question about whether he holds a grudge over Romney’s vote to remove him from office in his impeachment trial. Romney voted to convict Trump of abuse of power and to acquit him of obstruction of Congress.
Last week Trump invited 70 senators, including all 52 of Romney’s GOP colleagues, to serve on a congressional economic task force dubbed the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.”
“I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney. I have 52 Republican senators,” Trump told reporters at a White House press conference. “I’m not a fan of Mitt Romney. I don’t really want his advice.”
Romney was the governor of Massachusetts and the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
In business, he worked as a management consultant and helped lead Bain & Company out of financial crisis. He founded a lucrative business investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the country. He also turned around the struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games.
When asked for a response to the snub last week, Romney’s office said he’s focused on helping Utah families and businesses get access to federal assistance as they deal with the fallout from health crisis.
The senator’s office had nothing to add Sunday.