Only 1 GOP Senator Was Left Off Virus Task Force

Mitt Romney was not invited to join bipartisan group
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 17, 2020 3:29 AM CDT
Romney Is Only GOP Senator Left Out of Virus Task Force
Sen. Mitt Romney speaks with members of the media as he departs a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Monday, March 16, 2020.   (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Critics accused President Trump of pettiness Thursday after the White House released a list of lawmakers in the "Opening Up America Again Congressional Group"—and Sen. Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator not included. The list also includes a dozen Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, as well as 32 House lawmakers, including 10 Democrats.

Romney, the only GOP senator to vote for one of the articles of impeachment after Trump's trial, was also left out of a Thursday phone call in which the president spoke to senators about reopening the country, USA Today reports. "He wasn't invited," an administration official says. Democratic senators who ran for president, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, were also excluded from the task force, with the exception of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Hill reports. (More Mitt Romney stories.)

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