Gingrich says Romney's 'sucking up' to Trump - and mocks him for knowing how to speak French

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Newt Gingrich ramped up his assault on Mitt Romney, assailing his 2012 rival for the GOP nomination for 'sucking up' to Donald Trump and mastering the French language.

Romney is on Donald Trump's short list for secretary of state, and it has Gingrich steaming. The former speaker of the House and current Trump adviser is ferociously opposed to the wealthy businessman earning a spot in president-elect's cabinet.

'You have never, ever, in your career seen a wealthy adult who is independent, has been a presidential candidate, suck up at the rate that Mitt Romney is sucking up,' he told radio host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.

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Newt Gingrich ramped up his assault on Mitt Romney, assailing his 2012 rival for the GOP nomination for 'sucking up' to Donald Trump and mastering the French language

Tuesday evening Trump took Romney out for a lavish dinner at Jean-George, Jean-Georges, a French eatery near Central Park

Republican National Committee Chairman and Romney advocate Reince Priebus joined them. It was the second time Romney and Trump had met since the election. The president-elect is considering  the former Massachusetts governor for secretary of state

Gingrich recalled 'a scene in 'Pretty Woman' where Richard Gere tells a salesman at a Rodeo Drive clothing store, 'We're going to need a lot more sucking up to us.'

That's what Romney's doing, Gingrich said, paraphrasing the famous movie line as, 'We need a little sucking up here.'

Romney is making amends for a March speech in which he called Trump a 'phony, a fraud' playing the voters for 'suckers.' 

'Dishonesty is Donald Trump's hallmark,' he said in the address. 

The retired politician who represented the GOP in the 2012 general election told Republicans to vote for any of the remaining candidates in the party primary - except Trump. 

He never apologized for his remarks, at least not publicly, or his suggestion that Trump was hiding a 'bombshell' in his unreleased tax returns. Yet, he's interviewing for secretary of state, angering Trump insiders like Gingrich and Kellyanne Conway. 

Tuesday evening Trump took Romney out for a lavish dinner at Jean-Georges, a French eatery near Central Park. Republican National Committee Chairman and Romney advocate Reince Priebus joined them.

Their four-course meal cost $218 a head. They started with young garlic soup with thyme and sautéed frog legs. They moved on to scallops with caramelized cauliflower and a caper raisin emulsion.

For their main course, Priebus and Trump had prime sirloin with a citrus glaze and carrots. Romney had lamb chops with the mushroom bolognese sauce.

For dessert, all three had chocolate cake. 

The 'basic' menu at Jean-Georges starts at $138 per head, but they chose items from the more expensive Late Harvest Menu, which bumped them up to $218.

Romney said they discussed 'affairs around the world' and that he was impressed with Trump's speech on the night he won the election. 

'It's not easy to win. I know that myself. He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing and he won the general election,' he said. 

Gingrich blew his stack on Wednesday. He told Ingraham, 'I am confident that he thinks now that he and Donald Trump are the best of friends, they have so many things in common. That they're both such wise, brilliant people. 

'And I'm sure last night at an elegant three-star restaurant, he was happy to share his version of populism, which involve a little foie gras, a certain amount of superb cooking, but put that in a populist happy manner.'

Ingraham brought up the frog legs, and Gingrich called them 'elegant' before stating that Priebus, who calls Kenosha, Wisconsin, home, did not partake.

'I can't wait to talk to Reince and find out exactly how a guy of his background worked his way through the menu,' Gingrich said. 

Gingrich recalled 'a scene in "Pretty Women" where Richard Gere' (pictured in the film) 'goes up to the salesman on Rodeo Drive and says: "We need a little sucking up here" '. Romney's also 'sucking up,' he said

Then, he revived an attack on Romney from their 2012 showdown, saying, 'Luckily for them, Mitt speaks French fluently. So he could help them with the menu. 

'He could say: "Ahh, Mr. President-elect. This would be the perfect meal for you." '

A Gingrich attack ad from the 2012 Republican primary compared Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, to Democrat John Kerry, the current secretary of state and a former Massachusetts senator. 

Both men are fluent in French the ad, 'French Connection,' pointed out.

Gingrich imagined Romney advising Trump to order the 'escargot, maybe pheasant' at dinner on Ingraham's radio show.

'God, I'd love to have been there as a fly on the wall,' he said. 'Every day they let this thing hang out there it becomes harder and more expensive to pick Romney.'

Trump is a billionaire. Romney is a millionaire. The Jean-Georges tab was pocket change to both of them. 

In the day and a half since the dinner Trump have provided no new clues to his thinking on the secretary of state position. He's headed to Indiana and Ohio for events today.

Romney, Senator Bob Corker, Rudy Giuliani and ex-CIA head David Petraeus have all discussed the diplomatic post with the president-elect. Trump's also said to be looking at a list of other candidates that includes former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton.

Gingrich told USA Today in an interview this week that Romney would be an 'outrageous' selection.

'Romney said vile and vicious things. Romney opposed him all the way up to the election,' he said. 'In my judgment, Romney will be a very high risk ... because I think Romney has zero interest in the Trump revolution and every interest in re-establishing his own credentials.'

Gingrich, a vice chair of Trump's transition team, is giving his support to Giuliani. 

He told USA Today that Romney's still in the mix because of his relationship with House Speaker Paul Ryan, his 2012 running mate, and Priebus, a Ryan ally.

Priebus, also Trump's White House chief of staff, is 'pretty strongly' in favor of Romney for secretary of state, Gingrich said. Ryan 'is very strongly in favor of Romney,' too, he said.

Giuliani has not been seen at Trump Tower since before the Thanksgiving holiday.