Trump Blasts 'Junior' Sen. Romney for Not Endorsing Sen. Mike Lee Newsmax
By Eric Mack | Wednesday, 12 October 2022 02:16 PM EDT
While Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has resorted to publicly begging for the endorsement of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in order for the GOP to regain a majority, former President Donald Trump is urging Lee to move on.
Trump mocked Romney as the "junior senator from the great state of Utah" and vowed to never endorse the failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee in two years — when Trump himself might return to the top of the ticket.
"Mike Lee is an outstanding senator who has been abused, in an unprecedented way, by a fellow Republican senator from his own state, something which rarely has happened in political history," Trump wrote in a Save America PAC statement posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. "Such an event would only be understandable if Mike did not perform his duties as a United States senator, but he has, and he has performed them well."
Trump's statement, reiterating his own endorsement for Lee, comes after Lee begged for Romney's endorsement in his midterm race against another failed presidential candidate Evan McMullin, who left the Republican Party when Trump became the 2016 GOP nominee.
"Mitt Romney is the junior senator from the great state of Utah, which I won twice in a landslide, once by beating the candidate, Evan 'McMuffin' McMullin, who is currently running against Sen. Lee," Trump's statement continued. "McMuffin does not represent the values of Utah, but neither — as you will see in two years — does Mitt Romney, who refuses to endorse his fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee.
"Mike should now accept that fact and go on to win a race against a man who should have, based on his failed career as a politician, no chance of winning. Mike Lee is outstanding and has my complete and total endorsement."
Romney and McMullin "never will," Trump concluded.
"Mitt Romney and Evan McMullin can count on the fact that they never will have my endorsement," Trump wrote.
Romney's Senate reelection campaign in 2024 would come the same year Trump himself would be back on the ballot to run for president.