Trump’s team of rivals: Fighting spills into public over Romney and Giuliani

The fight is less about elevating the brash and self-promoting Giuliani, according to sources close to the transition, and more about stopping Romney either by selling Trump on the Sept. 11 hero or pushing a third candidate, possibly Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director and engineer of the Iraq surge, a half dozen people close to the process told POLITICO…

The pro-Giuliani contingent – or more accurately the anti-Mitt cadre – led by incoming White House senior strategist Steve Bannon and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, have argued forcefully for rewarding a “loyal” campaign surrogate. Giuliani, they have argued, was one of the few supporters who went on TV to defend the candidate in the aftermath of the “Access Hollywood” tape, and the kind of anti-establishment figure Trump voters demand. The pro-Romney camp includes Vice President Elect Mike Pence and incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus – who is less supportive of Romney than Pence — who have both pressed Trump to reach out to mainstream Republicans in order to help convert Trump’s shaggy insurgency into a functional and more traditional West Wing.

“Mitt represents the antithesis of what Kellyanne and Bannon stand for,” a Trump ally who supports Romney’s cause told POLITICO on Friday. “The problem is that Trump has a lot of other people in his ear and needs to branch out … Welcome to Washington, Mr. President.”