Nathan Howard/Reuters/File
U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney speaks with members of the media ahead of a Senate vote to begin work on legislation that includes aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2024.
CNN
—
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said if he were President Joe Biden, he “would immediately pardon” former President Donald Trump.
“If I were President Biden, I would have pardoned him as soon as the Justice Department filed the charges,” Romney said in an interview on MSNBC’s “The Eleventh Hour with Stephanie Rule,” scheduled to air Wednesday. “I would have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it would make me, President Biden, a great man and the person I pardoned would be a dwarf.”
Trump, who is certain to become the Republican presidential nominee, He faces 88 charges related to four criminal indictments in Georgia. New York; Washington, D.C.; and Florida—two of his later cases were federal cases prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Mr. Romney, a longtime critic of President Trump, disagreed with Mr. Biden’s handling of the federal lawsuit, but also criticized Mr. Trump’s attacks on the court and criticized the former president during his hush money trial in Manhattan. He blamed the Republican Party for trying to take it.
The former president, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, repeated baseless claims that Biden had weaponized the Justice Department against his 2024 presidential rival. He has also continually attacked the judges overseeing his own cases, raising security concerns with some receiving threats.
“I think it’s a terrible mistake for our country to see people attack our legal system. It’s a huge mistake,” Romney said.
The former president’s allies, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who are being considered as Trump’s running mate, came to Manhattan to show their support for Trump. gathered in the criminal court.
“I also think it was humiliating for people to stand outside the courthouse wearing red ties and obviously trying to run for vice president. It would have just been awkward,” Romney said. .
Politicians defending the former president, including Florida Reps. Byron Donald and Cory Mills and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswami, have been banned from public view under Trump’s 2016 gag order. attacks people who are prohibited from speaking in public. Manhattan hush money trial currently underway.
Mr. Romney has long been a critic of Mr. Trump and has frequently criticized his Republican colleagues for remaining loyal to the former president. Trump was found guilty of abuse of power in his first impeachment trial in the Senate, making him the first senator in U.S. history to vote to remove a president from his own party. And a year later, on January 6, during the former president’s second impeachment trial, he voted with six other Republicans to convict Trump of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol. . Mr. Romney said he did not vote for his party’s nominee, Mr. Trump, in 2020 and has said he will not vote for Mr. Trump in 2024.
The 77-year-old senator was the Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election, losing to Democratic incumbent Barack Obama. Mr. Romney is known for his unique voice in the Senate as a member willing to take on his own party, and he announced last year that he would not seek reelection.
CNN’s Clare Foran and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.
