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Republican Sen. Mitt Romney on Saturday denounced President Donald Trump's firings of internal government oversight officials, calling it a "threat to accountable democracy." Romney's comments came in response to Trump's Friday firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick -- the latest in a series of dismissals of independent government watchdogs that have come in the wake of the President's acquittal on two articles of impeachment earlier this year. "The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in...

The Senate on Wednesday voted almost entirely along party lines to acquit President Donald Trump on abuse of power. On the first of two articles of impeachment, Republican Mitt Romney of Utah voted to convict Trump, along with all Democrats and independents. Trump is expected to be acquitted in the vote on the second article, obstruction of Congress, in a party-line vote with all Republicans voting to acquit and all Democrats voting to convict

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told Fox News' Chris Wallace Wednesday in an exclusive interview that he "had to follow my conscience" in deciding to vote to convict President Trump on abuse of power, a decision that's likely to lead to serious blowback from Trump and others in the Republican Party. "I believe that the act he took, an effort to corrupt an election is as destructive an attack on the oath of office and our Constitution as I can imagine," Romney said. "It is a high crime and misdemeanor within the meaning of the Constitution, and that is not a...

Mitt Romney is mapping out plans to become a major player in the Senate — positioning himself to be the spokesman of a listless Republican Party establishment that’s been steamrolled by President Donald Trump. The failed presidential candidate turned Utah Senate hopeful has made it clear to senior party officials that he intends to make a splash with his all-but-certain arrival on Capitol Hill next year, according to nearly a dozen senators, major party donors and confidants who’ve spoken with him.

It was an honor to have been considered for Secretary of State of our great country. My discussions with President-elect Trump have been both enjoyable and enlightening. I have very high hopes that the new administration will lead the nation to greater strength, prosperity and peace.

McCain’s attitude doesn’t surprise me. He’s the Senate’s most ardent Russia hawk, he’s 80 years old, and he was just reelected. He’s got nothing to lose in standing up to Trump. Rubio’s attitude does surprise me a little. He’s hawkish and freshly reelected too, but he’s all of 45 years old and is surely planning another presidential run eventually. He backed off his apocalyptic criticism of Trump after the primaries this year, even before he’d decided to run for Senate again, seemingly fearing that any further anti-Trumpism on his part might jeopardize his national prospects down the line. Now...

Donald Trump is expected to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, two sources close to the transition process told NBC News on Saturday. The 64-year-old veteran oil executive has no government or diplomatic experience, although he has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pick would put to rest weeks-long speculation of who would earn the post as the U.S.'s top diplomat, and would place Tillerson fourth in line to the presidency.

After a dinner meeting with Donald Trump at Jean-Georges restaurant in New York, Mitt Romney delivered a glowing review of the president-elect’s leadership during the transition. Mr. Romney, who was invited to the dinner purportedly for a follow-up interview for the job of secretary of state, described it as a “wonderful evening” and said that he was “impressed” with Mr. Trump’s handling of his upset victory in the election. “We had another discussion about affairs throughout the world and these discussions I’ve had with him have been enlightening, and interesting, and engaging,” Mr. Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told...

“The Snake” is a song and single released by American singer Al Wilson in 1968, and written by Oscar Brown in 1963. The lyrics tell a story inspired by Aesop’s fable of The Farmer and the Viper.Republican candidate Donald Trump read the lyrics at several campaign rallies to illustrate his position on the Syrian refugee crisis.Trump read “The Snake” at his Bloomington, Illinois earlier this year. (video at link)Donald Trump’s Snake Poem https://t.co/Cp4NxlBsaI via @YouTube— Steve (@HQDev) March 13, 2016 On her way to work one morning Down the path along side the lake A tender hearted woman saw a...

"I don't see any way in the world that Mitt Romney would have a cabinet position in the Donald Trump administration," the former Arkansas governor told Uma Pemmaraju on Fox News... "It would really not so much be an insult to Donald Trump," he said. "It would be an insult to the supporters of Donald Trump, who went out there and faithfully stood behind Donald Trump, to give a guy a job who basically said all those supporters were following a con man. "That would be an insult to the voters..." "We had a far-reaching conversation with regards to the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The Drive-By Media and others are -- look, we have to admit it, they're excited and they're breathing rapidly (panting) over the news that Donald Trump is going to meet with Mitt Romney to discuss the possibility of Romney becoming secretary of state, ranking cabinet position. For example, here at NBC: "Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will meet with Donald Trump this weekend to discuss the secretary of state position, a source close to the president-elect with direct knowledge of his thinking told NBC News. In March, the former Massachusetts governor called Trump 'a phony' and...

"I get asked on a regular basis, 'Boy, why aren't you running this year?' I ask myself that a lot too. But I did that once," Romney said. He made self-deprecating jokes about his loss to President Barack Obama in 2012, borrowing a line from Democrat Walter Mondale, who lost to Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election: "All my life I wanted to run for president in the worst way, and that's what I did." He laughed about how much fun he had running in the 2012 race, encouraging the audience at an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber...

CLEVELAND -- Republicans responsible for setting the party's presidential nomination rules on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected attempts to formally unbind delegates to next week's convention, effectively ending any serious attempt to rob Donald Trump of the GOP presidential nomination. A vote came quickly Thursday night as part of a day-long marathon session of the Republican National Convention's rules committee, which sets the rules of the meetings and how the party will pick its nominee in 2020. The rejection of the "unbinding" proposal was so overwhelming that committee leaders opted not to record the tally. Trump supporters on the committee quickly exercised...

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney blasted Donald Trump on Wednesday after his successor hinted that it is unlikely he will release his tax returns before the November election. "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," Romney wrote in Facebook post. "There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns," he wrote Wednesday. "There is a bombshell in them. Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history,...

The ultimate result of the 2016 presidential election could yet rest on the likes of Erling “Curly” Haugland, 69, a businessman from Bismarck, North Dakota, who will be one of the 2,472 delegates to the Republican party convention in July. And he isn’t saying what he’ll do. “I wouldn’t know until the day of the first ballot [at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio] because a lot can happen between now and then,” he said. With the Republican party in uproar over the runaway primary lead of billionaire property mogul Donald Trump, the role of convention delegates could be crucial in...

These are, as the Chinese curse goes, interesting times. In a Republican presidential debate, the leading candidate defends the size of his penis and attacks the Constitution, asserting that he will order the U.S. military to commit war crimes. A few days earlier the same candidate said on national television that he had to “do research” on the KKK, David Duke, and white supremacism before he could take a position. During the week, the frontrunner threatened Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, because the Post had dared write articles he thought critical. “And believe me, if I become president,”...

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, refused Sunday to rule out becoming the nominee again this year at a brokered convention, though he insisted he couldn’t imagine that happening. “I don’t think anyone in our party should say, ‘Oh no, even if the people of the party wanted me to be president, I would say no to it.’ No one is going to say that,” Mr. Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Romney just advocated two things: 1. Denying Trump the nomination through a split vote in key high delegate states. For all intents and purposes advocating a brokered convention. 2. He is the one who can best articulate both why Trump is wrong and why Clinton is wrong My conclusion below...

2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday on Fox News there is good reason to believe there is a "bombshell" to be found in Donald Trump's back taxes. Asked by host Neil Cavuto why he hadn't officially backed a Republican for the 2016 nomination, Romney said he would like to see the back taxes from several of the candidates. Taxes were a sore spot for Romney in 2012, with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) publicly accusing him of not even paying them. "This will give us a real sense of whether these people are on the up...

(CNN)—Sorry Mitt Romney fans: He's just not that in to running for president. Fresh off a new Washington Post report that GOP establishment leaders are calling on Romney, who has run and lost twice before, to reconsider his decision to stay out of the 2016 race, associates of the 2012 Republican presidential nominee tell CNN there are a lot of "in bound" calls but that there are "no signs" he's changed his mind. One friend of Romney's said there were some calls to Romney confidant Beth Meyers and others in his circle asking him to consider being a lifeline to...