Mitt Romney says the feeling is mutual after outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he lost all respect for the former Massachusetts governor following his unsuccessful bid to be Donald Trump’s secretary of state.

“Mitt Romney is somebody I had respect for,” Mr. Reid told The Huffington Post on Tuesday, shortly before Mr. Trump’s nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was made official. “I have none anymore.”

The Nevada Democrat said it was hypocritical for Mr. Romney to lobby Mr. Trump for the secretary of state gig after calling the president-elect a “fraud” in March. At the time, Mr. Romney accused the then-Republican candidate of “bullying,” “misogyny,” and “absurd third-grade theatrics,” and said he was unfit to receive the party’s nomination.

Mr. Reid continued, “This is a man who came out big-time against Trump. Oh, the things he said about Trump. Well, that’s great, that’s wonderful.

“Either he wasn’t telling the truth, or he’s a person with no character,” he added. “After having said that, to go and do homage to this guy he said awful things about, I don’t think that shows much character.”

Mr. Romney responded in a statement to Mr. Reid’s comments, saying he lost respect for the senator long ago after he falsely and unapologetically accused him of not paying his taxes for a decade.

“I was indeed very critical of Mr. Trump during his campaign. But now he has been elected president and accordingly, if I could have helped shape foreign policy to protect the country I love, I would have been more than willing to do so,” Mr. Romney said through a spokesperson, The Post reported. “As for Mr. Reid, I lost respect for him when he repeatedly lied about my taxes and later admitted to it cheerily. Good riddance, Mr. Reid. The Senate will be better served without you in it.”

Ahead of the 2012 presidential election, Mr. Reid baselessly accused the then-GOP nominee of not paying his taxes for 10 years. In March of last year, Mr. Reid said he didn’t regret the lie “at all.”

“Romney didn’t win, did he?” he said, when CNN’s Dana Bash suggested he had engaged in McCarthyism.

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