Sen. Mitt Romney, Utah Republican, said Friday that he was “sickened” by President Trump’s behavior as detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s newly released report.
The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee shared his reaction on social media after reviewing the sprawling report summarizing the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 race and related matters.
“It is good news that there was insufficient evidence to charge the President of the United States with having conspired with a foreign adversary or with having obstructed justice. The alternative would have taken us through a wrenching process with the potential for constitutional crisis. The business of government can move on,” wrote Mr. Romney.
“Even so, I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President,” Mr. Romney continued. “I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine.”
Mr. Trump responded Saturday on Twitter by sharing a video that mocked Mr. Romney’s loss during the 2012 election to former President Barack Obama.
“If @MittRomney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he could have won the race (maybe),” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Released on Thursday, the 488-page report summed up the special counsel’s findings nearly two years since Mr. Mueller, a former FBI director, was appointed by the Department of Justice to lead an investigation into the 2016 race started by his successor, James Comey.
Mr. Comey was fired by Mr. Trump early on in the probe, and the investigation was subsequently expanded under Mr. Mueller to determine whether the president’s conduct constituted obstruction of justice.
The special counsel’s probe concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 race in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” and “identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.” Investigators did not find evidence of Mr. Trump’s associates illegally coordinating with Moscow, however, and Mr. Mueller concluded the probe without making a determination with respect to the obstruction question.
“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mr. Mueller wrote.
Mr. Trump has celebrated the report in the wake of its release, declaring Saturday on Twitter that “The Russia Hoax is dead!”
Elected to the Senate in 2018, Mr. Romney has been a vocal critic of Mr. Trump since prior to his presidency. Speaking in early 2016, Mr. Romney called the future president “a phony, a fraud” and a “failed candidate.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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