Is Mitt Romney giving Donald Trump the cold shoulder in public?
The Republican presidential candidate appears to be keeping his distance from Trump despite the real estate mogul’s endorsement of his campaign for president in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Romney and Trump haven’t appeared together at any public events since the tightly-controlled endorsement event in Nevada that lasted only seven minutes.
The presidential candidate also hasn’t touted the Trump endorsement in recent TV appearances or during last week’s speech before conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
And Trump hasn’t served as a surrogate on the trail akin to other high-profile endorsers like former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“There are already internal grumblings,” said a source that works in Trump’s political circle.
But asked by The Daily Caller if Trump feels that Romney has been brushing him off, Michael Cohen, a top adviser to Trump, strongly denied it. (RELATED: Full coverage of The Donald)
“I’m curious as to why you would say that,” he said with incredulity.
“They speak a lot,” Cohen said. “There are certain things that are in the works right now that I think would question the accuracy of your statement.”
As for why they haven’t appeared at an event together since the endorsement, Cohen said both have been busy. He explained that it’s probably a “time thing.”
Yet while he doesn’t appear to want Trump’s company in public, Romney does appear to appreciate Trump’s Rolodex. Trump participated in a private fundraising event for Romney in New York City on Wednesday.
“Mr. Trump has done several things for the governor over the last two weeks, including most recently yesterday in a tele-fundraiser where Mr. Trump raised more money than anybody else in the room,” Cohen said.
He said Trump has told the former governor that “anything he can do to help, he’s there for.”
“I received a request today for assistance in something I can’t disclose to you what it is,” Cohen said. “It’s a very substantial time commitment.”
It doesn’t make sense for Romney to do anything to alienate Trump. The New York Daily News reported this week that Trump is still considering running for president on the Americans Elect presidential ticket.
His adviser suggests, however, that something like that would only happen if Romney lost the Republican nomination.
“If Mitt Romney does not become the nominee,” he said, “Mr. Trump will 100 percent enter this race.”
UPDATE: In an email, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said, “Mr. Trump has been a great help to the campaign, whether it was with Gov. Romney at this week’s finance events, doing countless media interviews on behalf of the campaign, or tapping in to his huge social media following.”
“We understand that Mr. Trump has a very busy schedule and greatly appreciate all of the time he has devoted and committed to helping elect Gov. Romney president,” she said.