Speed Reads

March 8 primaries

Mitt Romney recorded phone calls urging voters to vote against Donald Trump

His emphatic speech may have backfired, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is still lending his voice to the GOP's anti-Trump crusade. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee has recorded robocalls on behalf of Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, urging voters to essentially cast their ballots for anyone but Donald Trump.

"If we Republicans were to choose Donald Trump as our nominee, I believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished," Romney says on the recording, adding that he believes Trump would also lose the general election to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in November. The calls for Kasich and Rubio, which follow nearly identical scripts, were released Tuesday morning to the four states voting in GOP contests: Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, and Hawaii.

A Romney spokeswoman told The Washington Post in an email that the former governor offered to help Rubio, Kasich, and Sen. Ted Cruz "in any way he can," as the three fight to deny Trump the party's nomination. Romney has not, however, issued an official endorsement for any one candidate.