Oprah Winfrey is balking at a claim made by Sen. Mitt Romney that she approached him about teaming up for a White House run.
The Utah senator’s new biography, Romney: A Reckoning, includes a section saying the Democratic media mogul told the Republican politician they should run on a unity ticket to prevent Donald Trump from being reelected in 2020.
The book, set for release next week, comes from longtime political journalist McKay Coppins and is based on interviews with Romney, his family, close confidants, and private emails.
An excerpt published Monday by political news website Axios, said Winfrey asked Romney to “join her on a unity presidential ticket” in an effort to “to save the country” from Trump. The book claims Romney ultimately dismissed the idea.
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After the article went viral, a spokesperson for Winfrey disputed the account in the book.
“In November 2019, Ms. Winfrey called Senator Romney to encourage him to run on an Independent ticket,” the spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was not calling to be part of the ticket and was never considering running herself.”
Winfrey’s name does carry clout in politics.
She endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2007, and helped him raise millions of dollars before he was elected president. She also backed John Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s 2020 Senate over race his opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a man Winfrey helped make famous with appearances on her hit talk show.
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