During a campaign rally on Thursday evening, President Donald Trump said that he is “no longer angry” at Utah Sen. Mitt Romney , The Hill reported.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters in Jacksonville, Florida, Trump argued that the GOP is now unified because virtually all lawmakers support a Senate vote on his forthcoming Supreme Court nominee.
“Do you see what’s going on with the Republican Party, how unified the Republican Party is? We’re unified. It’s a beautiful thing to see. Thank you, Mitt,” Trump said.
“Even Mitt’s on board,” he stressed.
The judge Trump nominates will replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away last Friday, after a long battle with cancer and other illnesses. Because of Romney’s support, Trump and his allies — who control the Senate — have the votes necessary to nominate and appoint Ginsburg’s conservative replacement.
Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump on one of the articles of impeachment passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
“We had 197 to nothing in the House and 52 and a half to a half — that was Mitt,” the commander-in-chief said. “But that’s OK, I’m no longer angry at Mitt because he’s being very nice on the Supreme Court. He’s doing the right thing. I just want him to do the right thing.”
Some expected Romney, who has been a vocal critic of Trump, to break ranks with his colleagues. But, in a public statement earlier this week, the senator ended the speculation.
Per CNN , Romney said that he intends to vote on the president’s pick “based upon their qualifications.”
Trump is expected to nominate Amy Coney Barrett, a federal appellate judge and Notre Dame law professor.
Only two GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have expressed opposition to their party’s push to replace Ginsburg before the November election.
In 2016, the GOP stonewalled Barack Obama’s attempts to appoint Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court because Obama was in the last year of his second term in office.
Senators, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, argued that it would be unprecedented to nominate Obama’s pick in a presidential election year.
Graham has also expressed support for Trump’s decision to fill the vacancy, which resulted in stern backlash from Democratic politicians, organizations, and the public.
Last week, Super PACs Lindsey Must Go (LMG) and the Lincoln Project released an advertisement slamming Graham as a hypocrite.