SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mitt Romney continued his role as the Senate’s most buttoned-up maverick on Thursday night, tweeting a scathing statement critical of President Donald Trump’s post-election fight to deny his loss.
"Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the President has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President," a statement from Romney said.
Romney’s statement refers to the president pressuring local and state politicians in Michigan. The president’s legal team dropped a number of court cases this week, seeming to signal a new goal for the campaign: to get elected officials to either refuse to certify votes or to step in to select pro-Trump presidential electors.
Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, says Romney is taking a stand of principle over party.
“It's not about party anymore. It's about every one of us. It's about our system of governance,” Perry said.
Deseret News opinion editor and former chief of staff to Sen. Mike Lee thinks the talk of subverting the will of the people is too much at this point in the process.
“If charges are brought up, if there's truth to them, we can follow it and correct it. If it's not, we can make sure it's dismissed,” Matheson said.
