Sen. Mitt Romney will not be invited to this year's CPAC, the conservative conference's host chair announced Friday in the aftermath of senators voting not to hear additional witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
"BREAKING: The "extreme conservative" and Junior Senator from the great state of Utah, @SenatorRomney is formally NOT invited to #CPAC2020," tweeted Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the conference.
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The former party nominee and Sen. Susan Collins were the only Republicans to side with Democrats in voting to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial.
The vote failed, all but guaranteeing Trump's acquittal next week.
While CPAC has grown into a hotbed of Trumpian support, Romney has distanced himself from the president, garnering Trump's mockery and scorn.
Trump's antipathy toward Romney long predates his impeachment, and the president has run supercuts of Romney's defeat in the 2012 presidential election to mock the senator.
Romney called for more information as reports first circulated of Trump pushing Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.
"If the President asked or pressured Ukraines president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme. Critical for the facts to come out," Romney tweeted in September.
Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after pushing Ukrainian officials to publicly launch a corruption investigation into the son of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Romney has previously spoken at the annual conservative conference including his first public speech since losing the 2012 election. He also spoke at CPAC in 2012 calling himself a "severely conservative governor" in an effort to shore up more support from the party's right as he sought the nomination.
Poster Comment:
Romney believes himself to be a 'man of principles' which is a damned lie. He and Susan Collins belong to the party that is hell-bent on ruining this nation The Republican Party needs these two like they need Soros.