Romney says Trump ‘damages the cause of freedom’ with election conspiracies

Mr Romney joins a growing list of Republicans criticizing how the president has handled his dwindling chances at re-election

Republican senator Mitt Romney on Friday said the president’s repeated, false claims that the election is rigged “damages the cause of freedom” and “inflames destructive and dangerous passions.”

He joins a growing group of current and former Republican officials who have criticized the president’s assertions he would’ve already won the election but for massive voter fraud.

The Utah senator urged calm as remaining voters were counted.

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Mr Romney and the president have a long, somewhat tortured relationship.

When Mr Trump was running for president in 2016, Mr Romney said he didn’t think he would win, and said the president’s past comments were “childish” and that Mr Trump was a “phony, and a fraud."

Mr Trump responded harshly on Twitter.

Later, once the president won, the two dined together as Mr Romney was reportedly being considered for a spot as secretary of state, and a photo of the incident went viral, with Mr Romney looking somewhat dejected.

The president elected not to nominate Mr Romney, and since then he’s emerged as one of Mr Trump’s only elected Republican critics. In 2019, he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that “the president has not risen to the mantle of the office,” and in 2020 he became the first ever senator to vote to impeach a member of his own party.

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