Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is rebuking President Trump for his "undemocratic" efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Romney in a statement late on Thursday blasted Trump's latest moves as the president continues to baselessly allege widespread voter fraud in the election and, according to Reuters, seeks to persuade "Republican legislators to intervene on his behalf in battleground states," including Michigan. The Trump campaign has not provided evidence of widespread fraud in the election in court, as Romney pointed out in his statement.
"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," Romney said in a statement. "It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president."
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Romney was the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial and has rebuked the president on numerous occasions, including when he failed to denounce the false QAnon conspiracy theory. He wasn't the only Republican to speak out against Trump's efforts to undermine the election results, though. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who has also criticized Trump in the past, noted on Thursday that Trump's lawyers "have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud" in court because "there are legal consequences for lying to judges."
Sasse added, following a bizarre press conference by Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani filled with conspiracy theories about the election, "Wild press conferences erode public trust. So no, obviously Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute. We are a nation of laws, not tweets."
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