Mitt Romney disguises himself with hats while vacationing in Palm Beach to avoid Trump supporters' ire, book says

• Republican Sen. Mitt Romney reportedly likes to go incognito in Palm Beach, Florida.
• He has been wearing hats to avoid Trump supporters while dining out, a new book says.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney reportedly likes to go incognito while in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Utah conservative has been wearing hats while dining out in the wealthy oceanside enclave, where he has a vacation home, in an effort to disguise himself, a family friend told the authors of the new book "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future."

"If he were recognized by Trump supporters there, there was a good chance he would be harassed," New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns wrote. Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is also in Palm Beach.

It's not Romney's first attempt at going undercover. He admitted in 2019 to using a secret Twitter account with the pseudonym "Pierre Delecto" to defend himself on social media and "like" critical tweets about Trump.

Romney — the 2012 Republican presidential nominee — has been a vocal critic of Trump's, calling him a "phony" and a "fraud" during the runup to the 2016 presidential election.

In February 2020, Romney earned the distinction of becoming the first senator to vote in favor of removing a president from his own party from office because of what he described as Trump's "appalling abuse of public trust." He voted to convict Trump of abuse of power for pressuring Ukrainian officials to investigate the Biden family.

A year later, Romney was among seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial in connection with the January 6, 2021, insurrection, though Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

As some Republicans began to embrace Trump again after he left office, others — including Romney's wife Ann — were fearful for their safety, the authors wrote. She told the authors that her five sons were proud of their father but unsure about the Republican Party.

"Trump's dominance, she said, made it uncertain whether any of the boys could run for office as Republicans," the authors wrote.

A Romney spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.