The Hill News

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney continued sparring Friday over which candidate better represented the legacy of former President Reagan, with dueling conference calls from former White House officials who served with the conservative icon.

Rich Williamson, a foreign policy adviser in the Reagan White House, accused Gingrich of overstating his importance in helping to shepherd the Reagan agenda through Congress.

"It was an honor and a privilege to serve with President Reagan, to know him, and to support his transformational presidency. And we see in Mitt Romney many of the same characteristics of a steady hand, reliability, consistency," Williamson said in a conference call with reporters. "And I think that Speaker Gingrich, by exaggerating his role in the Reagan Revolution, evinces an effort to be grandiose and for political reasons, try to overstate the role he played in supporting Ronald Reagan. He was a backbencher. He took opportunities to criticiz! e President Reagan’s efforts to the four of us, who all were involved in foreign policy matters and defense matters."

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