“These things are personal. I love this country. I love the founders, I love what this country is built upon and its values, and seeing this is breaking my heart, for the party that means so much.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by ABC News, “choking up and blinking back tears” explaining why he cannot back Donald Trump for president.
“There’s no question in my mind, he will never release his tax returns. He will follow one excuse after another to say why he can’t.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by The Hill, insisting there is a “bombshell” in Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Washington Post: “At this time four years ago, Mitt Romney summoned the leading figures in the Republican Party to this mountain resort at the start of his general-election campaign. He was then the standard-bearer of a party united and seemingly confident about its future.”
“Today, the GOP is divided and anxious, and as many of these same people gather with Romney once again, they now represent a party in exile, retreating to the political wilderness of Deer Valley and powerless in what has become the party of Donald Trump.”
“If the Hillary Clinton campaign’s attacks on Donald Trump feel a little familiar, it’s because they appear to be straight from Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney,” Politico reports.
“That push was successful, as Clinton’s allies are quick to point out. But it also runs the risk of being a little too conventional for a candidate as unconventional as Trump, leaving some former Obama operatives and Never Trump Republicans eager for reassurance that the Romney approach isn’t the only arrow in the quiver.”
Mitt Romney told the Wall Street Journal that the decision to take on Donald Trump was a matter of personal integrity.
Said Romney: “I know that some people are offended that someone who lost and is the former nominee continues to speak, but that’s how I can sleep at night. And there are some people, though it’s a small number, who still value my opinion.”
Donald Trump lashed out at Mitt Romney, saying he “walks like a penguin,” The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Poor Mitt Romney. I have a store that’s worth more money than he is” before adding that he “choked like a dog, he’s a choker.”
Newt Gingrich lambasted Mitt Romney for his failed drive to derail Donald Trump, calling his actions “pathetic” and his effort “not particularly effective,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Gingrich: “It’s pathetic… I don’t know what happened to Mitt, but it is weird; it is bizarre. Having a guy like that go berserk in public makes you wonder what his problems are.”
Mitt Romney is no longer engaged in an effort to recruit a third-party candidate to run against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Yahoo News reports.
“Spencer Zwick, the Republican fund-raiser who is deeply close to the former presidential nominee Mitt Romney and who raises money for the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, has periodically met with Donald J. Trump, including around the time he began his winning streak of nominating contests in February,” the New York Times reports.
“The meetings are noteworthy at a moment when the Republican Party has been divided between those supporting Mr. Trump and those who are opposing him as the party’s standard-bearer. Mr. Romney has been highly critical of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Ryan, with whom Mr. Trump will meet on Thursday, has said he is not ready to endorse Mr. Trump for the party’s presidential nomination.”
Mitt Romney on Facebook:
It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service. Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate’s representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest. Further, while not a likely circumstance, the potential for hidden inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who is seeking to become commander-in-chief.
Mr. Trump says he is being audited. So? There is nothing that prevents releasing tax returns that are being audited. Further, he could release returns for the years immediately prior to the years under audit. There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump’s refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump’s equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it’s a bombshell of unusual size.
Donald Trump told NBC News that Mitt Romney was “ungrateful” for his support during the 2012 Republican primary.
Said Trump: “Every single robocall I made, he won that state. Every single speech I made, he won that state, in terms of the primaries. I believe I won him, or helped him win five states that he was going to lose in the primaries.”
He added: “I raised a lot of money for him. I ruined the carpet in my apartments — I had so many people come. We actually had to have two fundraisers because there were so many people.”
“In spite of his insistence that he will not run, Mitt Romney is being courted this week by a leading conservative commentator to reconsider and jump into the volatile 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate,” the Washington Post reports.
“William Kristol, the longtime editor of the Weekly Standard magazine and a leading voice on the right, met privately with the 2012 nominee on Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of launching an independent bid, potentially with Romney as its standard-bearer.”
“All these rules are a lot simpler than the rules of foreign affairs or the rules of our economy. And if you want to be president, you are going to have to deal with things far more complicated than Republican delegate rules.”
— Mitt Romney, in an interview with CNN, on Donald Trump’s complaints that the GOP primary is rigged.
“Donald Trump has had several foreign wives. It turns out that there really are jobs Americans won’t do.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by The Hill.
Mitt Romney will be caucusing for Ted Cruz in Utah next week, Politico reports.
Said Romney: “At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible.”
“Mitt Romney will campaign with John Kasich Monday at two stops in Ohio,” NBC News reports.
“Romney is not expected to endorse the Ohio governor during the campaign swing, the source said, but it will be the first time Romney has campaigned on behalf of a Republican candidate this cycle.”
For members: The Best Way to Lose a Republican Primary
A new Morning Consult poll finds that 31% of GOP voters are more likely to vote for Donald Trump after Mitt Romney’s speech condemning him, while 20% are less likely and 43% said it had no impact.
New York Times: “Offering Senator Marco Rubio of Florida a much-needed boost, if not an outright endorsement, Mitt Romney has recorded get-out-the-vote calls for Mr. Rubio’s presidential campaign that are being sent to voters in the four states voting.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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