Trump: 'Why did Mitt Romney BEG me for my endorsement four years ago?'

Donald Trump
(Image credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

As Mitt Romney prepares to tear into Republican frontrunner Donald Trump as "a phony, a fraud" in a Thursday morning speech on the 2016 presidential race, Trump reminds Romney that he didn't always feel this way about him.

Four years ago, Trump did in fact end up endorsing the then-Republican presidential candidate, a favor which Romney responded to with lavish praise for Trump. Though on Thursday Romney may be railing against Trump and calling on voters to "make the right choices," in Feb. 2012 he had this to say:

"Donald Trump has shown an extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works to create jobs for the American people. He's done it here in Nevada, he’s done it across the country. ... He's one of the few people who stood up and said, you know what, China's been cheating. They've taken jobs from Americans. ... I spent my life in the private sector, not quite as successful as this guy but successful nonetheless. ... I want to say thank you to Donald Trump and look forward to seeing you out on the trail." [Politico Playbook]

Romney's speech on the "state of the 2016 presidential race" will take place at 11:30 am ET at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

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