Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway has highlighted the opposition to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney becoming secretary of state.
Romney has emerged as one of the frontrunners for the position, despite criticisms he had made about Trump in the past.
In a tweet earlier on Thursday, Conway drew attention to what she described as a “deluge of social media & private comms re: Romney Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as sec of state”.
Conway appeared to be referring to comments by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former House speaker Newt Gingrich that questioned how loyal Romney, who was the Republican nominee for president in 2012, could be to Trump.
In a second tweet she added that previous secretaries of state such as Henry Kissinger and George Shultz “flew around the world less, counseled POTUS close to home more. And were loyal. Good checklist.”
Trump’s decision over the state department is widely considered to be a heated battle between Romney supporters and those, like Huckabee and Gingrich, who favor the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
A third group is said to be pressing for the search for an alternative to continue.
In comments on Wednesday, Huckabee warned that appointments of disloyal Republicans could prove to be a distraction to Trump.
“It’s not about that I don’t care for Mitt personally, but I’m still very unhappy that Mitt did everything he could to derail Donald Trump,” Huckabee told Fox News. “He attacked him on a personal level about his character, integrity, his honor.”
At the Republican convention in July, Romney attempted to induce voters to cast their primary ballot for whichever Republican could beat Trump. In March, he called Trump a “phony” and dissed Trump’s business acumen.
“A business genius he is not,” Romney said, adding that Trump’s “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University”.
Trump countered that Romney was a failed candidate who would have “dropped to his knees” for his endorsement.
Gingrich, meanwhile, offered that the only way Romney could be considered for an administration post would be if he publicly repudiated every criticism he had made of Trump.
The former House speaker said Romney was the “most vicious and most explicit opponent all through the campaign on the Republican side”.
“I think as the new president, to build the team he wants to build, but I would suggest there are a lot of other people who are more qualified than Romney in foreign policy and who also have not been as actively hostile as he’s been.”
After Trump met with Romney last weekend, Trump’s transition team described the meeting as an “extremely positive and productive conversation”.
