Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney offered harsh criticism of the Trump administration after reading the recently released redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian involvement in the 2016 election, saying he was “sickened” by the “dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land including the President” in a statement on Twitter Friday. I have now read the redacted Mueller report and offer my personal reaction: pic.twitter.com/ACnExskqXJ — Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) April 19, 2019 The 448-page report released Thursday outlined multiple attempts by the Trump administration to interfere with Mueller’s investigation, describing 10 incidents in which the administration may have committed obstruction of justice. The report also outlined instances in which members of the Trump administration had contact with Russian nationals. Vox’s Zach Beauchamp summarized the key contacts: We learned that two Trump campaign officials, campaign manager Paul Manafort and Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates, were regularly providing polling information to a Russian national whom Gates believed to be a “spy.” We learned that, after Trump publicly called on Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails, he privately ordered future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to find them. Flynn reached out to a man named Peter Smith who (apparently falsely) told a number of people that he was in contact with Russian agents. We learned that Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos attempted to arrange meetings between Trump and Putin, and that Trump personally approved Papadopoulos’s work on this front. “I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine,” Romney said in response to these findings. Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate, is one of the few members of his party to publicly criticize the president following the release of the Mueller report. Trump has claimed the report proves he did nothing wrong, and as Vox’s Tara Golshan reported, most Republicans in Congress now say it it time to move on from questions of collusion and Russian interference in the 2016 election. Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the report proved “no Americans conspired with Russia,” while providing a “mountain of facts supporting the principal conclusions the attorney general and deputy attorney general shared last month: no collusion, no obstruction.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “It is time to move on. Americans deserve better than this partisan quest to vilify a political opponent, and I urge our Democratic colleagues in the House to put their emotions and opinions aside, and instead use that passion to come to the table and work on real solutions for all Americans.” Although most Republicans have echoed McCarthy and Collins, Romney isn’t the only high-profile Republican senator speaking out against the president. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins called the report “an unflattering portrayal” of Trump on Friday. She also said the Mueller report was a “very thorough undertaking” that showed “the Russians were determined to try to influence public opinion and interfere in our elections,” calling the Russian interference “a serious threat to our democratic institution.” Unlike Romney, Collins did not comment on the specifics of Mueller’s findings on potential obstruction of justice or Trump campaign officials’ contacts with Russian actors. This isn’t the first time Romney has been critical of Trump. He made many of his issues with the president known during the 2016 election. In 2016, before Trump received the Republican nomination, Romney criticized the then-Republican frontrunner’s personality, business dealings, and lack of policy understanding. Romney even said during the election, “Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, at the same time he has called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good.” Once Trump was elected, though, Romney took a more measured approach, meeting with Trump about becoming secretary of state. Later, Romney accepted an endorsement from the president for his senatorial run. The conciliatory approach Romney has taken toward Trump was on display in his Mueller statement, despite his rebuke of the president and his close associates. The senator did maintain his party’s line as he urged the country to move forward now that the report has been made public. “It is good news that there was insufficient evidence to charge the President of the United States with having conspired with a foreign adversary or with having obstructed justice,” Romney said. “The alternative would have taken us through a wrenching process with the potential for constitutional crisis. The business of government can move on.” Democrats, though, have not moved on. Friday, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, issued a subpoena asking for the full, unredacted report by May 1. A number of Democrats, in the wake of the findings, also have urged Congress to continue to investigate the president, and some, like 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren have called for Trump’s impeachment.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 05: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders listens during a White House daily news briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House June 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Sanders held a daily briefing to answer questions from members of the White House Press Corps. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 18: U.S. President Donald Trump pauses while speaking during an event recognizing the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride in the East Room of the White House, April 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. Today the Department of Justice released special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report on Russian election interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Barr gave his version of the report. Then we read it. WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 18: U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during an event recognizing the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride in the East Room of the White House, April 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. Today the Department of Justice released special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report on Russian election interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on 5G deployment in the United States on April 12, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Tom Brenner/Getty Images) (CNN) — Republican Sen. Mitt Romney issued a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump on Friday following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, saying he was “sickened” by details revealed in the document. “I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President. I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia,” the Utah Republican said in a statement. Mueller’s investigation into possible obstruction of justice could not clear Trump, according to a redacted version of the special counsel’s report released Thursday, which provided new details of Trump’s efforts to influence the investigation into his campaign and Russia. As Senate Democrats begin to call for Trump’s impeachment based on Mueller’s evidence, Romney is one of the first Republican senators to sharply rebuke the actions outlined in the report. Romney has historically been one of the harshest Republican critics of the President. “Reading the report is a sobering revelation of how far we have strayed from the aspirations and principles of the founders,” Romney said.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>It's fair to say that the Mueller report did not knock down any partisan barriers. Reactions were typically divided. Democrats vowed to continue pursuing the report's findings, with some prominent members of the party, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass. ), calling for impeachment proceedings to begin. Republicans, though, mostly remained silent. Even some members of the GOP who tend to risk criticizing the president more openly remained measured in their responses. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), for example, said that Mueller's findings on 2016 Russian election interference and the Trump campaign's conduct surrounding the meddling painted an "unflattering" image of Trump. But she also said the investigation was a "very thorough undertaking" that seems to have "changed very few minds in Washington," perhaps implying that the results speak for themselves. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that while the level of Russian interference revealed in the report was alarming, Americans should be "relieved" their president did not collaborate with Moscow. However, not everyone on the right side of the aisle is at ease with the findings of the report. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has had his battles with Trump in the past, said in a statement that he is "sickened" by the findings, although he said the "business of government" can now "move on." I have now read the redacted Mueller report and offer my personal reaction: pic.twitter.com/ACnExskqXJ — Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) April 19, 2019 Fox News' judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, meanwhile, suggested on Friday that there may be enough evidence in the Mueller report to prosecute the president. He added that, regardless, the report does show a "venal, amoral, deceptive Donald Trump."<doc-sep>
The regular opponent of the president was critical of the Mueller report's news. Sen. Mitt Romney, a regular sparring partner of President Donald Trump, came out as strongly as any Republican against the president's actions highlighted in the Mueller report on Friday. "I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President," Romney, Utah's junior senator, said in a release. "I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine." A redacted version of the special counsel's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, and any involvement by the Trump campaign, was released on Thursday morning. The report highlighted instances in which Trump tried to fire Mueller, including asking White House counsel Don McGahn to do so. He did not, and the report states the administration then tried to cover the request up. Romney's statement referred to Trump’s infamous July 2016 press conference inviting the Russians to find Hillary Clinton's emails, after which future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn contacted multiple people about finding the "missing" Clinton emails from her personal server, according to the report. Romney also referred to campaign chairman Paul Manafort in his statement, who met with representatives from Ukraine and has since been sentenced to four years jail time. Very few Republicans have spoken out against the revelations in the Mueller report. Trump himself repeatedly declared he was absolved of all accusations in the "witch hunt," even though the report did not exonerate him of obstruction. Attorney General William Barr instead declared the information in the report did not rise to the level of criminal prosecution. "I think he has every right to feel good about what we've heard today," McConnell told reporters Thursday, referring to Trump. Romney's relationship with the president has see-sawed between open criticism and reluctant support. Trump supported Romney during his midterm election bid for senator. But the former presidential candidate, who Trump has called a "stiff" and "choke artist" in the past, followed his election victory with a scathing column in The Washington Post in January. Romney wrote, "His conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office. A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect." Trump responded on Twitter, at the time, saying, "Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t." Romney finished his statement Friday with a call to return to principles the country was built on. "Reading the report is a sobering revelation of how far we have strayed from the aspirations and principles of the founders," he said.