Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) noted Wednesday that his attendance at a meeting of the Senate Republican Caucus with former President Trump last week doesn’t mean his opinion of the former president has changed.
“I didn’t go there to support former President Trump, I went there to hear what he plans to do if he becomes president.” “I think it’s a very good thing,” Romney told CNN host Manu Raju. “In President Trump’s case, it’s a question of personal character.”
“If it turns out that someone did in fact commit sexual assault, then I draw the line and say if I want that person to be president of the United States, I wouldn’t cross that line,” he continued, referring to a jury finding Trump guilty of sexually assaulting author E. Jean Carroll.
President Trump visited the U.S. Capitol last week and met with Republican members of both the House and Senate. This was his first visit to the U.S. Capitol since the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his first formal meeting with Republican members of the Senate since taking office.
Romney, who has emerged as a leading critic of Trump within the Republican Party, has repeatedly attacked the former president’s character and said he would “absolutely not” vote for Trump in November’s election.
Asked earlier this year why he decided not to vote for Trump, the Utah Republican pointed to “two factors”: “policies and character.”
“What America is, the most powerful country on earth, the leader of the planet, is because of the character of the people who have led us along the way,” Romney said, “not just our presidents, but our mothers, our fathers, our church leaders, our college presidents.”
“Having a president who is so lacking in character would have a profound effect on the character of America,” he added, “and to me, that’s the No. 1 consideration.”
Romney, who ran for president and won the Republican nomination in 2012, has also said he disagrees with Trump on foreign policy.
