Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) has set himself up as the arbiter of who should be a Republican and who should not. He voted to convict President Trump in his first and second impeachment trials, he refused to support fellow Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s reelection bid last year and now he’s going after accused serial liar freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
Romney was seen berating Santos on the House floor before Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. After the speech Romney trashed Santos in comments to reporters, telling them Santos is a “sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there.”
CNN’s Melania Zonona broke the story: “CNN’s @MZanona reports Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney— who spoke to freshman Congressman George Santos as he entered the House Chamber for tonight’s State of the Union— told the embattled GOP rep “You don’t belong here,” per a member who witnessed the exchange.
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Video of the exchange shows Santos not taking it from Romney:
Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported Santos’ side of the incident: “Rep. George Santos describes, to me, his exchange with Sen. Mitt Romney during the State of the Union tonight: Mitt: You don’t belong here. Santos: Go tell that to the 142K that voted for me. Mitt: You’re an ass. Santos: You’re a much bigger asshole.”
Romney spoke to reporters after Biden’s address, telling them he was offended that Santos was on an aisle where he could greeting arriving senators and the president when he should be in a back row because of his ethics investigation.
NBC’s Frank Thorp: ROMNEY on what he said to @Santos4Congress: “He’s a sick puppy, he shouldn’t have been there.” “Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president.”…More ROMNEY on SANTOS: “He says he, you know, that he embellished his record. Look, embellishing is saying you got an A when he had an A minus, Lying is saying you, you graduated from a college, you didn’t even attend, and he shouldn’t be in Congress.”…ROMNEY on SANTOS: “And they’re gonna go through the process and hopefully get him out, but he shouldn’t be there. And if he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there.” “It’s an embarrassment,” Romney said.”
Video posted by CBS’ Alan He:
Romney lies to reporters at the end when he says he doesn’t know if Santos said anything back to him, “He may have, I didn’t hear…”
Another view of the Romney scrum.
Santos pushed back at Romney afterward on Twitter, “Hey @MittRomney just a reminder that you will NEVER be PRESIDENT!”
Biden did not shake hands with Santos, reported NBC’s Garrett Haake: “President Biden clearly looked Rep. Santos in the eye but they did not shake hands. They didn’t appear to say anything to one another from my vantage point.”
CNN captured Santos and Biden locking eyes:
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