CPAC chair: Romney not invited over fears for his safety
Feb 11, 2020, 7:08 AM | Updated: 11:02 am
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, walks to the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, during a break in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, is uninvited from this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, after the chairman of that conference says he fears for the senator’s safety.
The announcement comes after Romney broke ranks with his fellow Republicans, becoming the only senator in US history to vote to convict a president of their own party.
Chairman Matt Schlapp told Greta Van Susteren’s “Full Court Press” that Romney shouldn’t come to the conference this month.
BREAKING: The “extreme conservative” and Junior Senator from the great state of Utah, @SenatorRomney is formally NOT invited to #CPAC2020. pic.twitter.com/f35tYy73V1
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) January 31, 2020
“This year, I’d actually be afraid for his physical safety, people are so mad at him,” Schlapp said in that interview.
“The biggest problem we have with Mitt Romney is not that he’s just an individual following his political course. It’s the fact that he’s lied so continuously to conservatives.
“We won’t credential him as a conservative,” Schlapp said.
“I suppose if he wants to come as a nonconservative and debate an issue with us, maybe in the future we would have him come,” Schlapp continued, adding that he would be worried about the senator’s physical safety at the event.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) says it’s hard to believe we’ve stooped this low as a country. Manchin, a moderate, told CNN that Romney is one of the most honorable people that he’s ever met.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp’s comment about Sen. Mitt Romney’s “physical safety” if he attended the conservative conference: “I have not met a more honorable person than Mitt Romney. … It’s hard to believe that we have stooped this low” pic.twitter.com/RSrDtq6Qrl
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 10, 2020
Schlapp says he doesn’t wish Romney any harm, but he hopes that Romney can “find a new hobby away from destroying GOP momentum.”
Stuart I take my little girls and my 80 year old mom to @CPAC and we have never had a problem w any of our attendees ever. Listen to the whole interview if you can. I wish Gov Romney no harm I just want him to find a new hobby away from destroying GOP momentum https://t.co/9by17dhLWt
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 10, 2020
