Mitt Romney says he's 'sickened' by Trump's 'dishonesty and misdirection' after reading the Mueller report

• Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the former GOP presidential nominee, condemned President Donald Trump after reading special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation 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 wrote. 
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Sen. Mitt Romney, the former GOP presidential nominee, condemned President Donald Trump after reading special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report on Friday.

Romney said that while it's "good news" that Mueller found insufficient evidence to charge Trump and his aides with conspiracy to collude with Russia, he added that the report lays out a disturbing portrait of presidential "dishonesty." 

"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 wrote in a statement on Friday afternoon. "

Read more: Democrats have an intra-party battle brewing over impeaching Trump after the Mueller report's release

Romney, who famously excoriated Trump on the campaign trail in 2016 and later considered joining his administration, took particular issue with Trump campaign aides welcoming help from Russia. 

 

As Trump closed in on the GOP nomination in 2016, Romney fiercely attacked Trump's character and record, calling him a "phony" and a "fraud" whose "promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University."

Read more: Romney's Senate opponent roasts him for accepting Trump's endorsement after he said he wouldn't

Trump hit back repeatedly, calling Romney "one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics," and a "dope" who "choked like a dog" when he lost to Obama in 2012.

But just a few months later Romney met with the president-elect on multiple occasions, reportedly angling to become Trump's secretary of state.

Trump ultimately endorsed Romney's Utah Senate run last year. But Romney spurned the president once again in January, when he penned an op-ed for the Washington Post arguing that Trump "has not risen to the mantle of the office."