FILE - In this March 3, 2018, file photo, Mitt Romney speaks with a group during a breakfast campaign stop in Green River, Utah. Romney's annual gathering of top Republicans, wealthy political donors... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this March 3, 2018, file photo, Mitt Romney speaks with a group during a breakfast campaign stop in Green River, Utah. Romney's annual gathering of top Republicans, wealthy political donors... (Associated Press) 
 
 PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — He once called Donald Trump "a con man," but Mitt Romney now predicts that Trump would "easily" win his party's presidential nomination in 2020 and "solidly" win a second term. 
 
 Romney, the GOP's failed 2012 presidential nominee from Massachusetts, now a Republican Senate candidate in Utah, made the prediction Thursday as he welcomed dozens of high-profile business and political leaders to a mountainside retreat in Utah Thursday night. As he has every year since 2012, Romney played host to an invitation-only summit focused on the future of American leadership at home and abroad. 
 
 The future, he predicted, would feature Trump as America's leader at least for another six years. 
 
 "I think that not just because of the strong economy and the fact that people are going to see increasingly rising wages," Romney said, "but I think it's also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president who's presiding over a growing economy." 
 
 The remarks from Romney marked a sharp reversal from his original impression of Trump. Romney briefly served as the face of the so-called "Never Trump" movement before the 2016 election. He delivered a scathing speech in Utah before the 2016 election, calling Trump "a con man" and "a fake." 
 
 Yet Romney's criticism has softened since then. And now, in the midst of a Republican Senate primary campaign, the former Massachusetts governor appears to be embracing Trump and his leadership role in the modern-day Republican Party. 
 
 He delivered the remarks on the first day of a three-day, closed-door summit in Utah's mountains. The Associated Press was allowed to listen to Romney's remarks during the event's opening reception. 
 
 Dignitaries on the guest list feature included House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner in addition to actor Seth Rogin, former Starbuck CEO Howard Schultz and former Domino's Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle. 
 
 While there were many Trump skeptics in the crowd, a handful of Trump loyalists were in attendance as well, including short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Blackrock CEO Stephen Schwarzman. 
 
 It won't be all business. 
 
 Guests will have an opportunity to go skeet shooting with Ryan or hiking with Romney. 
 
 "I'm looking forward to an unusual and packed couple of days here," Romney said, suggesting he would have little more to say about politics. "Campaigns are off limits." ||||| “I think that growth and the higher incomes people are seeing means that Republicans will do just fine in November,” said Mitt Romney, the former 2012 GOP presidential nominee and current U.S. Senate candidate. | George Frey/Getty Images Romney: Trump will be reelected in 2020 
 
 DEER VALLEY, UTAH — Republican Senate candidate Mitt Romney bluntly predicted here on Thursday evening that President Donald Trump would win reelection in 2020. 
 
 Addressing a group of major GOP donors, Romney — who bitterly collided with Trump during the 2016 campaign and implored his party to nominate someone else — also said Trump would easily capture the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination. 
 
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 He said Trump’s political fortunes would be bolstered by a pair of factors: an improving economy and the likelihood that Democrats would choose an outside-the-mainstream candidate. 
 
 “I think President Trump will be re-nominated by my party easily, and I think he’ll be reelected solidly,” Romney said. 
 
 “I think that not just because of the strong economy and because people are increasingly seeing rising wages, but I think it’s also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president who is presiding over a growing economy,” he added. 
 
 Since launching his Utah Senate candidacy earlier this year, Romney has praised some of Trump’s early actions as president while saying he disagrees with the president’s bombastic style. 
 
 During a recent interview with NBC News, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the GOP’s 2012 nominee, said he wouldn’t “point to the president as a role model for my grandkids on the basis of his personal style. He has departed in some cases from the truth, and has attacked in a way that I think is not entirely appropriate.” 
 
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 After the 2016 race, the relationship between Trump and Romney warmed somewhat, with the president-elect briefly considering Romney to serve as his secretary of state before ultimately picking ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Still, there were signs of strain. Earlier this year, Trump waged an unsuccessful bid to persuade longtime Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection and block Romney. 
 
 After Hatch announced that he wouldn’t seek reelection, the president endorsed Romney for the seat. 
 
 The remarks came on the opening night of the E2 Summit, an annual Romney-hosted event that draws influential political leaders and donors. This year’s event is expected to draw a number of bold-faced names, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, investor Stephen Schwarzman, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was Romney’s vice-presidential nominee. 
 
 Actor and comedian Seth Rogen is expected to speak on brain health. 
 
 Romney also offered a bullish assessment of the GOP’s 2018 midterm prospects, arguing that the party would retain control of both chambers of Congress. 
 
 “I think that growth and the higher incomes people are seeing means that Republicans will do just fine in November,” he said. “I think we will hold the House, I think we’ll hold the Senate. I know a lot of pundits don’t believe that. I think we will.” 
 
 Romney is heavily favored to capture the Utah Senate seat. He faces a June 26 runoff for the GOP nomination against Mike Kennedy, a conservative state representative. 
 
 CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Mike Kennedy's name.
– Addressing high-profile GOP donors, Mitt Romney predicted Thursday that President Trump would slide smoothly into a second term in 2020. "I think President Trump will be re-nominated by my party easily, and I think he'll be reelected solidly," he told business and political leaders including Blackrock CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Michael Bloomberg, Paul Ryan, and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz at the Romney-hosted, invite-only E2 summit in Park City, Utah, per the AP. And while he cited the "strong economy," Romney said Democrats "are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president who is presiding over a growing economy," per Politico. Romney, who is expected to win a Senate seat in Utah, also predicted Republicans would hold the House and Senate come November. "I know a lot of pundits don't believe that. I think we will," he said.