Romney Dismisses Graham’s Threat To Vote Against McConnell As Leader: There’s ‘Solid Support’

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 06: (L-R) Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), sits beside Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) during a meeting with former U.S. hostage in Yemen Danny Burch and President Donald Trump inside the Oval Office of t... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 06: (L-R) Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT), sits beside Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) during a meeting with former U.S. hostage in Yemen Danny Burch and President Donald Trump inside the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2019 in Washington, DC. Burch had been held hostage by Yemani rebels for 18 months. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Sunday brushed off Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) threat to vote against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) if he doesn’t “effectively work” with former President Trump.

Asked whether Graham’s threat is a fair indicator for Republicans’ support for McConnell’s re-election bid for leader, Romney told MSNBC’s “Meet the Press” that McConnell shouldn’t sweat it.

“Oh, I think there’s full support for Mitch McConnell, no question about that,” Romney said. “I haven’t heard anything other than a solid support for his continued leadership.”

Romney, who is amongst the former president’s favorite punching bags, added that he doesn’t associate with the people who are “always trying to placate” Trump.

Last week, Graham parroted Trump’s war on McConnell for supposed insufficient loyalty a day after McConnell announced his plans to run for leader again. McConnell became one of Trump’s punching bags after he condemned the former president for his role in inciting the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Since then, Trump has gone on a series of rants against McConnell, which include deriding the Senate minority leader as a “dumb son of a bitch” and an “Old Broken Crow.”

“I’m not going to vote for anybody for leader of the Senate as a Republican unless they can prove to me that they can advocate an ‘American First’ agenda and have a working relationship with President Trump,” Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week. “Because if you can’t do that, you will fail.”

Romney himself has become known for his vocal criticism of Trump, even prior to his vote to convict him for “incitement of insurrection” last year. Romney took aim at the Trump administration’s disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a debunked Ukraine conspiracy theory that Trump and his GOP allies pushed, and Trump’s efforts to suppress mail-in voting during the 2020 presidential election.

Last week, Romney came to Sen. Mike Rounds’ (R-SD) defense after Trump attacked the GOP senator for daring to call the 2020 presidential election “fair” during an interview with ABC News. Trump accused Rounds of being “woke” for not playing along with his election fraud falsehoods, and vowed to never endorse Rounds again after the GOP senator wouldn’t commit to endorsing the former president if he launches another presidential run in 2024.

In his tweet defending Rounds, Romney pointed to other prominent conservatives who have bucked Trump’s election fraud falsehoods and attempts to subvert the election results — and have become targets of the former president for doing so.

Watch Romney’s remarks below:

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for 1gg 1gg says:

    It’s a moot point because the GOP is not going to win back the Senate.

  2. Mitt: you will never be POTUS.

    That said, “Please keep whistling, Senator.”

  3. More of a swat at Trump.

  4. “I haven’t heard anything other than a solid support for his continued leadership.”

    I think that Romney meant to say “severely solid support.”

  5. Avatar for kida kida says:

    How about stepping up to support a filibuster carve out for voting rights, Mitt. Otherwise, you’re still just a member of the party of evil so shut the funk up

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

47 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for runfastandwin Avatar for realzealman Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for 1gg Avatar for kida Avatar for lastroth Avatar for billymac Avatar for benthere Avatar for pshah Avatar for southerndem Avatar for brewhousebob Avatar for wintermoon Avatar for rondo Avatar for tiowally Avatar for kalnins Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for bazarov Avatar for rhs1963 Avatar for zenicetus Avatar for dicktater Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: