Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE, says the president-elect interviewed Mitt Romney for the secretary of State position just to "torture him" for his former criticism.

In an appearance on InfoWars Sunday, Stone said Trump had been toying with Romney.

"Donald Trump was interviewing Mitt Romney for secretary of State in order to torture him," Stone said on conspiracy theory website InfoWars. "To toy with him. And given the history, that’s completely understandable. Mitt Romney crossed a line. He didn’t just oppose Trump, which is his democratic right, he called him a phony and a fraud. And a con man. And that’s not the kind of man you want as Secretary of State."

Stone, a longtime political operative who has Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, left Trump's campaign last year and does not have a position on the transition. Stone plans to write a book on Trump's rise to the White House.

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Over the weekend, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson was reported as Trump's favorite for secretary of State. Romney has been widely criticized by Trump loyalists for refusing to support Trump on the campaign trail—including a speech where the former 2012 Republican presidential nominee slammed Trump as a "phony" and a "fraud."

"Well, you know Trump correctly said he was a choker," Stone told InfoWars, "And at the key moment in the campaign against Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Obama shares phone number to find out how Americans are planning to vote Democrats' troubling adventure in a 'Wonderland' without 'rule of law' MORE he choked. Donald Trump is not a choker, in fact, he’s a scratch golfer. So in this particular case, Trump did what Romney couldn’t."

Romney's position on Trump changed drastically after the election. After having dinner with Trump in late November, Romney praised him as potentially "the very man that could lead us to that better future"—an attitude shift that led Trump ally and former Speaker Newt Gingrich to mock Romney's "sucking up."

Trump has yet to officially announce his pick for the State Department.