Romney: Trump's comments 'antithetical to American values'


Save Story

Show 2 more videos

Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

NEW YORK (CNN) — Mitt Romney took a swipe at President Donald Trump on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, condemning his "s***hole countries" remark.

The comment signals that the potential Utah Senate candidate continues to have no problem speaking out against the Trump administration.

"The poverty of an aspiring immigrant's nation of origin is as irrelevant as their race. The sentiment attributed to POTUS is inconsistent w/ America's history and antithetical to American values. May our memory of Dr. King buoy our hope for unity, greatness, & 'charity for all,'" the 2012 GOP presidential nominee tweeted.

Trump last week referred to African nations as "s***hole countries" during an Oval Office discussion about immigration, a source briefed on the meeting told CNN. On Friday, he denied using that language.

Romney is expected to declare his intention to seek the Republican nomination to replace outgoing Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch within the next few weeks, according to several sources in Romney's orbit.

> The poverty of an aspiring immigrant’s nation of origin is as irrelevant as their race. The sentiment attributed to POTUS is inconsistent w/ America’s history and antithetical to American values. May our memory of Dr. King buoy our hope for unity, greatness, & “charity for all.” > > — Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) [January 15, 2018](https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/952915061697384449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

The former Massachusetts governor has been an outspoken critic of Trump's policies and rhetoric, calling him a "phony" and "a fraud" during the 2016 campaign.

Despite their at-times fraught relationship, Trump considered Romney for the secretary of state post, and the two spoke by phone recently, according to a White House official.

Copyright 2018 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahPolitics
Betsy Klein

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast