Senator Mitt Romney of Utah believes President Joe Biden should have pardoned former President Donald Trump rather than allow the federal hush money trial to proceed.
The Republican appeared on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” to discuss the New York trial. Romney said he would have “immediately pardoned” Trump when he was indicted by the Justice Department if he were Biden.
“I think President Biden made an enormous error,” said Romney. “He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump."
“If [President Lyndon B. Johnson] had been president and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he would have been all over that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not bring that forward or I’m going to drive you out of office,’” he continued. “You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought out indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I'd have pardoned President Trump.”
"Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy,” the senator explained. He also predicted the case was not going “to have an impact” before the election.
“And, frankly, the country doesn't want to have to go through prosecuting a former president,” said Romney.
Romney was critical of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his office for pushing forward with the case in April after Trump’s arraignment.
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office," Romney said, per USA Today. "Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda."
The New York trial is currently in its fourth week. Michael Cohen, a former attorney for Trump who was previously convicted of breaking federal campaign finance law and lying to Congress, has been on the stand for the last three days. Prosecutors are hoping Cohen’s testimony will link Trump to payments allegedly issued to prevent Stormy Daniels from selling her claims that she had an affair with the former president in the early 2000s.
During his MSNBC interview, Romney warned that the four biggest threats to the country are the development of artificial intelligence – which he compared to the emergence of nuclear power – the burden of national debt, the impact of climate, and the emergence of China as a “great power.”
“These are things we are finally going to have to get our arms around if we are going to make sure the future is as bright for our kids as it was for us,” said the senator.
Romney announced in September that he would retire rather than seek a second term in the Senate.
“I’ve spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-eighties,” said Romney in a video statement. “Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders.”
Romney has also served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican presidential candidate in 2012.
He told Ruhle that he will not vote for Trump in November.
