Romney says Trump would win 2024 Republican nomination "in a landslide" if he ran for president
Senator Mitt Romney said that he believes former President Donald Trump would win the Republican presidential nomination if he ran for office in 2024.
"He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party," Romney said at a New York Times DealBook virtual event on Tuesday. "I don't know if he'll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he will win the nomination."
Romney, the GOP presidential nominee in 2012, said that "a lot can happen between now and 2024," adding that he is not "great at predicting."
However, he said he expects the former president to continue to play a big role in the Republican Party, which faces an internal identity crisis following Mr. Trump's second impeachment trial.
"I look at the polls, and the polls show that among the names being floated as potential contenders in 2024, if you put President Trump in there among Republicans, he wins in a landslide," the Utah senator said.
Romney is the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials.
"I would not be voting for President Trump again. I haven't voted for him in the past," Romney said, when asked whether he would campaign against Mr. Trump if he were to run. "And I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent."
Earlier Tuesday, Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, called on the Republican party to "make clear we aren't the party of white supremacy." Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans that voted to impeach Mr. Trump over his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Cheney also voiced support for the creation of a commission to investigate the insurrection. She said the commission should take a "clear-eyed look" into Mr. Trump's false allegations of widespread voter fraud and a "stolen" election leading up to the attack.
