'Elitist Republican' Mitt Romney's claim of attending Trump's Capitol Hill meeting 'to listen, not support' ex-POTUS divides Internet

WASHINGTON, DC: Top Senate Republican Mitt Romney did not reverse his stance on Donald Trump after the former president's recent visit to Capitol Hill.

The congressman from Utah indicated he was still anti-Trump despite attending the soon-to-be formal GOP presidential nominee's meeting with the party's legislators in Washington DC, as per the New York Post.

"I didn't go there to support former President Trump. I went there to listen to what he was planning on doing if he became president," Romney said to CNN's Manu Raju on Tuesday, June 18.

He initially planned to miss Trump's DC meeting but decided to attend after his flight got canceled.

Mitt Romney says Donald Trump's 'personal character' matters

Romney indicated the former president's character mattered, pertaining to the sexual assault allegations against him.

"With President Trump, it’s a matter of personal character," the Utah Republican said. "I draw a line and say when someone has been actually found to have been sexually assaulting, that’s something I just won’t cross over in the person I would want to have as president of the United States.”

The hardcore Trump critic was referencing a Manhattan jury's decision in May 2023 to hold the White House hopeful liable for sexually abusing and defaming former Elle magazine columnist E Jean Carroll.

Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million and $5 million in two separate verdicts in a defamation lawsuit filed by the writer. The MAGA spearhead denied the allegations and appealed the ruling.

The 45th president stepped foot in Washington DC for the first time on June 13 after he departed from the White House in January 2021 following the Jan 6 Capitol attack that he allegedly instigated, which tainted his final days as president. He also met with the outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the first time since leaving the Oval Office.

Romney, a longtime critic of the real estate mogul, had declared that he would not vote for Trump in the 2016 presidential election and wrote in his wife, Ann Romney, for the presidency.

During his Senate tenure after winning midterm elections in 2018, he emerged as a vocal Republican opponent of the then-president. Romney was the only GOP legislator who voted to convict Trump in both impeachment trials in 2020 and 2021.

Last year, the longtime politician declared he would not seek another Senate term this November due to his age and a wish to make way for next-generation leaders.

Internet has mixed reaction to Mitt Romney's reason for attending Donald Trump's meet

Divided over Romney's remarks about why he attended Trump's Capitol Hill meeting, a group of netizens criticized the lawmaker while another praised his "moral compass."

"Ahhh…Mitt…just another elitist Republican and white supremacist who worships at the Temple of Mammon and thinks if he says/does the right thing on occasion, we’ll all forget what he’s all about," one user wrote.

Another remarked, "I honestly believe Mitt did go there to listen. He is one of the last elected Republicans left who truly believes in 'respecting the office' etc.

One user added, "If you want respect you have to give it. Rule of mutuality. Here, Romney is continuing his pattern of malicious and oppressive lies about Trump."

A response read, "At least one man in the GOP who still has a moral compass. Reminds you of the scriptures when the Lord was looking for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6.....1 good man left."

"Romney wants to believe he's a "Good Retrumplican" but those don't exist. He's worse for that reason alone," someone else claimed.

An individual wrote, "Romney is somewhat okay man in a wrong party."

Another user said, "Why does he keep trying to make himself relevant. He’s leaving the senate. Thankfully."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.