Utah Senator Mitt Romney faced chants of “traitor” on a flight from Salt Lake City to Washington, DC. A video posted to Twitter appears to show a small group of passengers chanting, at least one of whom doesn’t properly have a mask.
“Dismissed, Mitch!” a woman shouted, seen with a mask on her chin that did not cover her mouth and nose. She accused Romney of not listening to his constituents.
The woman also tried to push through an unwarranted conspiracy theory linking Romney to both the Ukrainian gas company Burisma and President-elect Joe Biden.
Romney has previously criticized a Senate Homeland Security Commission investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, who was appointed president of Burisma while Biden was serving as vice president. Romney did vote in favor of issuing subpoenas in that probe.
An additional video on Twitter showed Romney being confronted before boarding his flight. In the video, Romney can be seen in a terminal at the Salt Lake City airport. The woman who appears to be filming confronts Romney and claims he does not support Donald Trump.
Romney urges the woman to put on a mask, which is required at the airport, although she claims she is six feet away. The woman then seems to get closer to Romney. She calls Romney “a joke” and a “disgusting shame” for not supporting Mr Trump’s re-election.
Romney did not endorse Mr Trump in 2020. The former 2012 GOP presidential candidate later admitted that he also did not vote for Mr. Trump.
The video was posted by a user whose name ‘Qtah’ is a clear reference to the conspiracy theory QAnon, which the Southern Poverty Law Center notes is an ‘anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ’ theory falsely claiming that the world is run by a secret cabal of pedophiles who worship Satan and conspire against President Trump. “