Trump calls Romney a 'stone cold loser' after the Utah senator was booed at a Utah GOP conference

trump and romney — Donald Trump delighted in Romney being booed off stage at a GOP convention, calling him a "stone cold loser."
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Susan Walsh-Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump on Sunday celebrated Sen. Mitt Romney being booed at a Utah GOP convention.
Trump called Romney a "stone cold loser" and a "RINO" - an acronym for "Republican in name only."
Romney was booed at the conference hours before an attempt to censure him for voting for Trump's impeachment failed.
See more stories on Insider's business page.

Former president Donald Trump on Sunday celebrated Sen. Mitt Romney being booed at a GOP convention in Utah, calling Romney a "stone cold loser".

Trump also again called Romney a "RINO" - an acronym for the term "Republican in name only."

"So nice to see RINO Mitt Romney booed off the stage at the Utah Republican State Convention. They are among the earliest to have figured this guy out, a stone cold loser!" Trump said in a statement.

Romney was booed by conference-goers at a state Republican Party event, which he attended hours before the Utah GOP voted against a resolution to censure him over his votes to convict Trump during the impeachment trials.

CNN reported that the resolution to censure Romney was submitted by a party delegate from Davis County, Don Guymon. Guymon alleged in the resolution that Romney "consistently publicly criticized President Trump" and that the senator's comments "not only hurt President Trump's reelection but hurt other Republicans on the ballot."

The resolution to censure Romney failed with a vote of 711 to 798.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, conference delegates began booing when Romney started to speak, and flung insults at him from the audience, calling him a "traitor" and a "communist."

"You know me as a person who says what he thinks, and I don't hide the fact that I wasn't a fan of our last president's character issues," Romney was heard saying in the video.

"Aren't you embarrassed?" the senator later asked the crowd, as he struggled to make himself heard amid the booing and shouting.

"I understand that I have a few folks who don't like me terribly much, and I'm sorry about that. But I express my mind as I believe is right, and I follow my conscience as I believe is right," Romney added, continuing with his speech after Utah GOP chair Derek Brown stepped in, asking delegates to "show respect."

Romney has not shied away from criticizing Trump publicly and was the only Senate Republican who voted to convict Trump in both his Senate impeachment trials.

That's made him a longtime subject of Trump's scorn. CNBC reported in 2019 that the former president called the 2012 GOP presidential nominee a "pompous ass" and a "fool" for criticizing him.

Read the original article on Business Insider