Trump aide says opposition to Mitt Romney is ‘breathtaking’

A top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said Mitt Romney, a potential choice for secretary of state, faces a groundswell of opposition as some of Trump’s loyalists become more explicit with their criticism of the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate.

“I am just astonished at the breathtaking volume and intensity of blowback that I see, just as one person close to the president-elect,” Kellyanne Conway, who managed Trump’s campaign and is now a senior adviser to his transition, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Trump is receiving the sentiment “unsolicited from people on social media, particularly in private communications,” Conway said. She said she has also expressed her concerns “privately.”

Romney, who embraced Trump’s endorsement during his run for the White House in 2012, was one the New Yorker’s fiercest critics during this year’s campaign. Romney called the real estate investor “a con man” and “a fraud,” and raised questions about his fitness to serve and commitment to conservative values.

Officials jockeying for positions in an upcoming administration, including through the use of anonymous leaks to the press, is common. Such open questioning of a potential administration official, particularly by a core loyalist, happens less frequently, though is bound to occur as the president-elect’s search for Cabinet choices extends outside his base or from the opposing party.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are other Trump allies who have suggested opposition to Romney. Huckabee said choosing Romney would be “an insult” to Trump voters.

Conway Sunday questioned the foreign policy credentials of Romney, the co-founder of investment firm Bain Capital.

“In the last four years, I mean, has he been around the globe doing something on behalf of the U.S. of which we’re unaware? Did he go and intervene in Syria where they’re having a massive humanitarian crisis?” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Has he been helpful to Mr. Netanyahu?” she said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Trump aide says opposition to Mitt Romney is ‘breathtaking’."