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Mitt Romney ends recruiting efforts for an independent candidate By Eric Bradner and Jim Acosta, CNN Updated 3:01 PM ET, Wed May 18, 2016 Washington (CNN)Mitt Romney won't launch a third-party presidential campaign of his own and has stopped trying to recruit somebody else to do it. The 2012 Republican nominee had attempted to recruit a challenger to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But prospects like Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said no, and Romney is now dropping his efforts, a source familiar with Romney's thinking told CNN. The news was first reported by Yahoo News.

Donald Trump is outperforming Mitt Romney’s 2012 performance with Hispanic voters, according to a poll released Tuesday. Hillary Clinton leads Trump 48 percent to 45 percent nationally in the NBC poll. Among Hispanics she leads Trump 65 percent to 28 percent. Romney received 27 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2012. Last week, a poll showed Trump leading Clinton 55 percent to 45 percent among Hispanic registered voters.

Mitt Romney has ruled out an independent bid for president, and is not actively recruiting any more potential candidates to do so at the moment, though he remains hopeful someone will emerge, allies told Yahoo News Tuesday. Romney “feels like America hangs in the balance. He’s very distraught about [Trump],” said one Romney adviser. “He thinks Trump is this vulgar, dangerous, principle-less, value-less opportunist — putting it mildly.” The 2012 Republican nominee for president has been the most outspoken GOP figure continuing to steadfastly oppose Trump. Romney has been asked to consider running for president himself, but did not seriously...

Among others sounded out for the mission are ex-Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks. All have begged off. Apparently, Romney, the Republican Party's 2012 nominee, personally sounded out both Sasse and Gov. John Kasich, who will be hosting the Cleveland Convention where the coronation of the Donald is to be held. How Kasich could expect to beat Trump in November, when he lost every state primary to Trump, save his own, is unexplained. And, indeed, Romney's recruitment of Kasich raises a question....

Boehner's scenario: Clinton may drop out, clear way for Biden The Daily Briefing By John T. Bennett CQ-Roll Call • Sunday May 15, 2016 8:53 PM Vice President Joe Biden and former House Speaker John Boehner share a moment as they take the stage for the University of Notre Dame commencement ceremony. Both were on hand Sunday to receive the Laetare Medal. Out with Hillary Clinton. In with Vice President Joe Biden. At least that’s what former House Speaker John A. Boehner thinks could happen should federal prosecutors opt to slap criminal charges on the former secretary of state over...

Former spokesperson for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Hogan Gidley joined Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM with guest host Matthew Boyle, Breitbart News’ Washington political editor, and slammed 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney for claiming the presumptive 2016 GOP nominee Donald Trump isn’t conservative. “He claimed to be severely conservative, whatever in the world that is,” Gidley said of Romney. This is the guy who created Romneycare, who was the template for Obamacare. Mitt Romney marched in gay pride parades. He did the first same sex wedding in America, put homosexuals in the Supreme Court in Massachusetts. He boasted, remember in...

Mark Zuckerberg invited prominent conservative media figures, including Glenn Beck and Dana Perino, to a meeting at Facebook's headquarters this week. The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, is aimed at addressing the alleged suppression of conservative news stories in Facebook's "trending" stories section. Along with Perino and Beck, other confirmed attendees include Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, CNN conservative commentator SE Cupp, and Zac Moffatt, co-founder of tech firm Targeted Victory. Moffatt was previously Mitt Romney's digital director.

Mitt Romney made an unsuccessful effort to recruit Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse as a third-party presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, a source with knowledge of the efforts confirmed to CNN Sunday. Sasse, the freshman Republican, has emerged as one of Trump's foremost critics from the right. Romney and Sasse have talked, the source said, and Romney encouraged Sasse to seriously consider a run... But Sasse is refusing to enter the race... At the Nebraska GOP convention, Sasse was rebuked through a resolution that was overwhelmingly approved by Republicans there who argued that his position would only...

Hillary Clinton (pending the conclusion of the criminal investigations about her emails and the Clinton Foundation which linger on) may well be the Democratic nominee. As it is perfectly clear that Trump will win the Republican nomination the #NeverTrump bleats are beginning to fade. Many have realized that their arguments are ridiculous, and are more related to the diminution of their power to affect opinion than they are to substance. This week, as well, the administration gets its failures in foreign and domestic policy off the front pages as the loony press attempts to justify his public school unisex bathroom...

A band of exasperated Republicans — including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a handful of veteran consultants and members of the conservative intelligentsia — is actively plotting to draft an independent presidential candidate who could keep Donald Trump from the White House. These GOP figures are commissioning private polling, lining up major funding sources­ and courting potential contenders, according to interviews with more than a dozen Republicans involved in the discussions. The effort has been sporadic all spring but has intensified significantly in the 10 days since Trump effectively locked up the Republican nomination. Those involved concede that an independent...

Most people who understand the UniParty are the same people who railed against the Mitt Romney candidacy in 2012. Mitt Romney, George Bush, Jeb, same-same-same. So it should come as no surprise the enemy of Mitt Romney’s GOPe/UniParty effort, is actually us. The reality is, if it wasn’t due to the Romney election machinations in 2012, we would never have been motivated to discover the origin of the networks which created the scheme. Both 2011/2012 and 2015/2016 schemes were essentially the same. In my own personal estimation, I believe Donald Trump knew this exact same construct. Trump knew the ruse,...

UPDATE——– #NEVERTRUMPER GOT THUMPED— NEBRASKA REPUBLICANS PASS RESOLUTION TO REPRIMAND #NEVERTRUMPER BEN SASSE.. The Nebraska Republican State Convention is underway today in Omaha, Nebraska. Republican Sam Fischer introduced a resolution to reprimand Senator Ben Sasse for his outspoken attacks on Republican nominee Donald Trump and for leading the anti-Trump movement. Sasse, a Republican, is the top Republican office holder pushing for a third party run this fall against Donald Trump...

Greg Nash Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 nominee, is among those courting prospects for a possible third-party bid to keep Donald Trump from the White House, according to a Washington Post report . Among those prospects are Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who suspended his presidential campaign in early May. Kasich’s chief strategist John Weaver said the governor isn’t interested in running an an independent. A Sasse spokesman declined to comment. But it’s not looking to good for a late in the game third-party bid, according to the...

Mike Huckabee on Thursday ripped Mitt Romney for calling on Donald Trump to release his taxes, accusing the 2012 GOP nominee of trying to "sink" the party's current presumptive presidential nominee. "I supported Romney, just as I will Trump, despite having serious differences with both," Huckabee wrote on his website, adding that he was "especially disappointed" in Romney over the issue. "He’s not only trying to sink his own party’s presumptive nominee, but he’s factually incorrect and he’s making the same unfair attack on Trump that was launched against him in 2012," he wrote. Romney has been calling on Trump...

<p>Mitt Romney is keeping up the pressure on Donald Trump to release his tax returns.</p> <p>The 2012 GOP presidential nominee is suggesting the real reason Trump is not releasing his tax returns is that the billionaire is hiding “a bombshell of unusual size” in the documents.</p>

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham told viewers on Wednesday's “Special Report with Bret Baier” that Donald Trump's tax returns aren't going to matter much in this election. “I don't know what Mitt Romney is doing. I really don't.” said Ingraham. “I mean, I guess at this point, he's in it to help Hillary because I don't know why he would make that point”

Wednesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a supporter of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told host Wolf Blitzer that 2012 GOP presidential nomination former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) needs to get past notion that his first choice to carry the Republican banner in this fall’s presidential election did not win and that he should get behind Trump.

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. Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate's representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest. Further, while not a likely circumstance, the potential for hidden inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who is seeking to become commander-in-chief. Mr. Trump says he...

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,...