‘He may have been a terrible presidential candidate and an even worse U.S. Senator, but he is a RINO, and I like him a lot!’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) President Donald Trump asked every single Republican senator to join the White House’s congressional coronavirus task force this week—everyone, that is, except for Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
The White House released its list of senators joining the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group” on Thursday, and it includes nearly 70 senators, including all of Romney’s 52 GOP colleagues.
Romney, however, was not asked to join the task force, according to a spokeswoman for the senator. Trump went over the list of senators himself before the White House publicly released it, CNN reported.
Romney was the only Republican to vote against Trump during the Senate’s impeachment trial. But the two men have had a contentious relationship for years, with Trump often taking to Twitter to troll Romney, and Romney publicly opposing the president in Congress.
Just last month, Trump poked fun at Romney after the senator announced he had tested negative for the coronavirus.
This is really great news! I am so happy I can barely speak. He may have been a terrible presidential candidate and an even worse U.S. Senator, but he is a RINO, and I like him a lot! https://t.co/42zpWW9vzy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2020
Romney wasn’t the only one excluded from the task force. More than two dozen Democratic senators were not asked to join the group, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both of whom ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
The task force will help assist the states as they begin to lift social distancing restrictions and reopen the country.
Trump laid out his reopening plan on Thursday, and it includes three different phases with nonbinding guidelines. The timeline of these phases will vary state by state, he said.