Nick Givas on January 3, 2019

Former Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah said Republican Mitt Romney hurt himself and the GOP by writing an op-ed critical of President Donald Trump in The Washington Post on New Year’s Day.

“He hurt the party. I think he also hurt himself,” Chaffetz said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”

“And he hurt the Utahns. He was elected by the people of Utah to represent the state of Utah, to solve the problems,” he said. “This doesn’t solve any problems. This creates a new problem. This was not the Mitt Romney we ever saw in Utah during the 2018 election.”

Chaffetz criticized Romney for accepting Trump’s support during the midterms and then turning on him as he’s about to assume office in the U.S. Senate.

“He accepted Donald Trump’s endorsement enthusiastically,” he continued. “You never heard him talking about this during the campaign. In October, in the last debate, he was asked specifically about his feelings about Donald Trump. He said he essentially agreed with Donald Trump on all the policy issues. To do this before is he sworn in undercuts his effectiveness and here we are talking about it instead of the core issues of the day.”

Co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Chaffetz if he thinks Romney will try to run for president in 2020 and he said he hopes that isn’t the case.

“I hope not,” Chaffetz replied. “That’s not who the people of Utah voted and supported to try to represent the state of Utah. That is not going to be productive for us — one of our two senators representing here.”

“And I can tell you personally I’m very disappointed,” he added. “I had several personal conversations where he went out of his way to say I don’t want to get in a tit-for-tat with the president. Well this is exactly the opposite of that.”

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