--- title: Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Taken Secretary of State Role description: Ann Romeny said her husband was considering the position of Secretary of State after President Trump publicly courted him for the position. canonical: https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-27T16:53:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:03:21.785Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Taken Role in Trump's Cabinet og:description: Mitt Romney was reportedly considered for Secretary of State og:url: https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c26bcf0d305e17e/6988c00597cdffb1fb6aff5d/gettyimages-494820308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: US House Of Representatives Votes To Elect A New Speaker og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Taken Role in Trump's Cabinet twitter:description: Mitt Romney was reportedly considered for Secretary of State twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c26bcf0d305e17e/6988c00597cdffb1fb6aff5d/gettyimages-494820308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Accepted Role in President Trump's Cabinet > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 27, 2017 4:53 PM UTC  Former Republican pesidential candidate Mitt Romney (C) applauds with his wife Ann (L) after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) was elected as the to the leadership position October 29, 2015 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee—Getty Images Former Republican pesidential candidate Mitt Romney (C) applauds with his wife Ann (L) after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) was elected as the to the leadership position October 29, 2015 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee—Getty ImagesWin McNamee—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 27, 2017 4:53 PM UTC Governor and former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have accepted a role in President Donald Trump’s cabinet if he’d been asked, his wife Ann said in a [recent interview](http://www.today.com/video/ann-romney-shares-about-her-battle-with-multiple-sclerosis-in-new-book-907289155630). Speaking to [_NBC_‘s Today Show](http://www.today.com/video/ann-romney-shares-about-her-battle-with-multiple-sclerosis-in-new-book-907289155630), Ann said she and Mitt were “seriously considering” the position of [Secretary of State](http://time.com/4577946/mitt-romney-secretary-of-state-donald-trump/). Ann was on the program to discuss her new book, _In This Together: My Story,_ about her battle with multiple sclerosis. The 2012 presidential candidate was publicly courted by Trump for the position, but he ultimately offered it to [former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. ](http://time.com/4597328/donald-trump-rex-tillerson-secretary-state/) “I think he was very seriously being considered,” Romney [said Monday](http://www.today.com/video/ann-romney-shares-about-her-battle-with-multiple-sclerosis-in-new-book-907289155630). “And so for Mitt to have been able to shape foreign affairs, I think would have been a very significant role for him and I know he would have accepted it if he had been asked.” After the position went to Tillerson, Romney said he was grateful to have been in the running in a Facebook post. The whole ordeal stood in sharp contrast to the two Republicans’ interactions during the 2016 campaign. Romney was a fierce critic of Trump, calling him a “[con man, a phony, and a fraud](http://time.com/4246596/donald-trump-mitt-romney-utah-speech/)” in a highly publicized speech. Then a candidate, [Trump fired back ](http://time.com/4246947/trump-romney-begged-endorsement-2012/)calling the speech “irrelevant” and Romney a “failed candidate.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/"},"headline":"Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Accepted Role in President Trump's Cabinet","datePublished":"2017-03-27T16:53:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:03:21.785Z","description":"Mitt Romney was reportedly considered for Secretary of State","url":"https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","secretary of state","onetime","Rex Tillerson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c26bcf0d305e17e/6988c00597cdffb1fb6aff5d/gettyimages-494820308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c26bcf0d305e17e/6988c00597cdffb1fb6aff5d/gettyimages-494820308.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US House Of Representatives Votes To Elect A New Speaker","caption":"US House Of Representatives Votes To Elect A New Speaker","creditText":"Win McNamee—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4713968/ann-romney-mitt-would-have-accepted-role-in-president-trumps-cabinet/","name":"Ann Romney: Mitt Would Have Accepted Role in President Trump's Cabinet"}}]}] ```