Oprah denies new claim she asked Romney to be 2020 running mate, but confirms she pushed senator to run
Oprah Winfrey recently denied that she ever approached Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah., about being his running mate in the 2020 presidential election to stop former President Trump, a claim made in a new book about the lawmaker.
However, the billionaire media mogul did admit that she called up Romney in 2019 and urged him to take on the 45th president during his re-election bid. Romney has been one of Trump's most vocal critics from within the GOP but didn't challenge him in the 2020 GOP primary, which Trump went on to win easily.
Winfrey set the record straight after news reports detailed claims about the new Romney book by journalist McKay Coppins, titled "Romney: A Reckoning."
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Oprah Winfrey recently denied claims from a new book on Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, that she asked the lawmaker to be his running mate in the 2020 presidential election. (1) Drew Angerer/Staff 2) Roy Rochlin/ Stringer)
Sources familiar with the book, which is based on dozens of interviews between Romney and Coppins, claimed it gives an account of when Winfrey called Romney and pitched him the idea of running on a unity ticket with her "to save the country" from Trump.
According to the book, which is out next week, Romney told the media icon that running together would not be the best idea. He allegedly told Winfrey that such a campaign would help Trump.
The account also alleged that the former television host disclosed to Romney that she had been asked by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be his vice presidential nominee in that same election, just before he entered the Democratic Party primary.
Winfrey wanted to gauge Romney’s interest before deciding to accept or decline the former mayor’s offer, as the book told it.
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Oprah Winfrey hosted her talk show from 1986 through 2011. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for ESSENCE)
Once Axios and other outlets reported on the revelations from the Romney book, Winfrey denied them. However, her team did admit that she approached the 2012 GOP presidential candidate about running as an independent that year.
Axios reported that a spokesperson for Winfrey reached out to the outlet, who stated, "In November 2019, Ms. Winfrey called Senator Romney to encourage him to run on an independent ticket. She was not calling to be part of the ticket and was never considering running herself."
In recent weeks, Romney has signaled that his political career is slowing down. He announced last month that he would not be seeking re-election for U.S. Senate in his home state of Utah, calling for a "new generation of leaders" to rise to the occasion.
He told Fox News Digital, "I have spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-eighties. Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in."
Neither Romney’s team nor Coppins immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about the book's claims.
Romney previously served one term as governor of Massachusetts and then unsuccessfully sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He won the nomination in 2012 but lost the general election to then-President Obama.
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