- President Donald Trump is reportedly determined to take revenge on Senator Mitt Romney, who was the only Republican to break with his party colleagues and vote to remove Trump from office.
- "The only one that voted against us was a guy that can't stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency," Trump said in a jibe aimed at Romney's failed presidential candidacy in 2012 on Thursday.
- Among measures being considered by Trump are funding a candidate to run against Romney in 2024, or pressuring top operatives and donors not to work with the senator.
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President Donald Trump is reportedly determined to take revenge on those he believes betrayed him during the impeachment trial - and at the top of the list is Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.
A Republican close to the White House and a senior administration official told Politico that the president felt particularly aggrieved by Romney's decision to break ranks and become the only Republican to vote to convict him in the Senate impeachment trial.
Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on Thursday triumphantly held aloft newspapers proclaiming his acquittal in front page headlines, and singled out Romney for attack, criticizing the senator's claim that his faith guided his decision to convict.
"I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when they know that that's not so. So many people have been hurt and we can't let that go on," said the president, at the traditionally non-partisan event.
In remarks later at the White House, Trump again attacked Romney claiming he was sore about losing the 2012 presidential election, when he ran as the Republican party candidate against President Barack Obama.
"The only one that voted against us was a guy that can't stand the fact that he ran one of the worst campaigns in the history of the presidency," Trump said.
On social media, a network of Trump's allies, including his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., had in the wake of Romney's vote unleashed a wave of attacks against the senator.
In a bizarre tweet Wednesday Trump Jr had accused Romney of being a "p***y" who wears "mom jeans."
"He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he's joining them now. He's now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled" from his party, Trump Jr added.
Officials say that the public attacks are the opening salvos in a campaign to freeze Romney out of the party he once led.
Trump campaign officials told the Washington Post on Wednesday that if reelected, Trump could direct funding to a Romney challenger when he next faces reelection as a senator in Utah, pressurize donors not to work with Romney, or attempt to stymie his legislative priorities in Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday was asked by reporters whether steps would be taken to punish Romney - struck a different note to the president and his allies.
"We don't have any doghouses here. The most important vote is the next vote," said the senator, who masterminded Trump's impeachment acquittal.
In an interview with Fox's Chris Wallace Wednesday, Romney had said he knew there would be blowback for his decision - and he was braced for it.
"I understand there's going to be enormous consequence," he said, "and I don't have a choice in that regard. That's why - that's why I haven't been anxious to be in the position I'm in."
A White House spokesman and a spokesperson for Romney did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.
President Trump accused some of those who supported his impeachment of hypocritically cloaking themselves in their faith, in a thinly veiled attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitt Romney, the sole Republican to vote to convict him https://t.co/F7yKzDZ8Op pic.twitter.com/lfAeZjGn2q
- Reuters (@Reuters) February 6, 2020Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS. He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he's joining them now.
He's now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP.
- Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 5, 2020