Utah Senator Mitt Romney (R) is no fan of President Donald Trump, it seems. He’s now joined those speaking out against the president over his relentless smear campaign accusing former Florida Congressman Joe Scarborough of murdering a staffer in his then-Congressional office in the early 2000s. The president’s conspiracy theory is as unhinged as it sounds — there’s not a shred of supporting evidence — and he’s been pushing the narrative even after the late staffer’s widower, Timothy Klausutis, wrote Twitter with a plea for the platform to remove the president’s political attacks featuring his late wife, Lori. Romney called out the president this week for putting the widower through the ringer.
Torturing the family of the dead for political gain. Classless. Soulless. Clueless. Tasteless. Pointless. Feckless. Hateful and @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/HrxNJzGCX3
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) May 27, 2020
He posted:
‘I know Joe Scarborough. Joe is a friend of mine. I don’t know T.J. Klausutis. Joe can weather vile, baseless accusations but T.J.? His heart is breaking. Enough already.’
I know Joe Scarborough. Joe is a friend of mine. I don't know T.J. Klausutis. Joe can weather vile, baseless accusations but T.J.? His heart is breaking. Enough already.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 27, 2020
This is not the first occasion on which Romney has spoken out against the president. Recently, he did so after Trump fired a slew of government oversight officials in apparent acts of political retaliation for the officials daring to do their jobs in a way that the president did not like.
Recently, Romney commented:
‘The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.’
The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so
without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) May 16, 2020
Romney has occasionally taken some pointedly concrete steps to try and hold the president accountable. He was the only Republican to vote in favor of convicting the president of either of the charges against him at his impeachment trial. (Romney voted to convict Trump of abuse of power.)
Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to prove his complete detachment from basic reality via his baseless insistence that there’s some kind of nefarious conspiracy behind the death of Lori Klausutis. There is no evidence for the president’s insistence that Scarborough may have had something to do with her death — none. But Trump doesn’t seem to care about evidence. He just cares about making his point.
When was the last time a president ignored the pleas of a dead woman's family to stop using falsehoods about her death to attack a talk show host? https://t.co/bNAZWWO3WW
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) May 27, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response to Romney below:
