Trump hits Romney for Mueller criticism

President Trump swiped at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Saturday after Romney criticized the president following the release of Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation into Trump’s campaign and Russian election interference.

In a tweet featuring a video compilation of clips from Romney’s 2012 election night defeat, Trump quipped that Romney could “maybe” have beaten former President Obama in the general election had he spent as much energy fighting Obama as he does Trump.

“If @MittRomney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he could have won the race (maybe)!” Trump wrote in the tweet that the president pinned to the top of his Twitter feed, which is viewed by nearly 60 million followers.

If @MittRomney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he could have won the race (maybe)! pic.twitter.com/p5imhMJqS1

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2019

Romney lost the 2016 election by more than 100 electoral votes, while losing the popular vote to the incumbent Obama by about 4 percentage points.

The former Massachusetts governor was briefly among the candidates considered to run the State Department in the early days of Trump’s presidency, but in recent months has emerged as one of the more vocal detractors of the president on the right.

On Friday, Romney said he was “sickened” by the conduct of Trump and others outlined in Mueller’s report, which was released publicly with some redactions a day earlier.

“I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President,” Romney said in a statement posted to Twitter.