Romney Says He’s ‘Sickened’ by Trump After Reading Mueller’s Report

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Mitt Romney said Friday he was "sickened" by President Donald Trump’s dishonesty as described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and “appalled” that people working for Trump’s campaign welcomed help from Russia.

“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 said in a statement. “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 of Utah called reading Mueller’s report "a sobering revelation of how far we have strayed from the aspirations and principles of the founders.” It was the most critical statement yet from a Republican senator on what Trump on Friday called “the Crazy Mueller Report.”

But the former Republican presidential nominee didn’t sound eager to delve further.

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 business of government can move on."

Mueller found evidence of multiple instances of possible obstruction of justice but declined to make a "traditional" prosecutorial decision, leaving it to Congress. Attorney General William Barr stepped in, declaring that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found insufficient evidence that Trump obstructed justice.

Romney drew ridicule from President Barack Obama during their 2012 presidential contest for naming Russia as the U.S.’s greatest geopolitical foe.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Justin Blum

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