Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said America’s anger and division stems from Donald Trump‘s “big lie” that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 presidential election.
He called on fellow Republicans to denounce Trump and his supporters who challenge the election’s integrity, Deseret News reported.
Romney said elected Republicans should appear on Fox News and tell the audience, “You know what, I was a big Trump supporter, I was really pulling for Donald Trump, but he lost fair and square.”
“I say, first of all, have you gone out publicly and said that there was not widespread voter fraud and that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States? If you said that, then I’m happy to listen to you talk about other things that might inflame anger and divisiveness,” he said.
“You have many of the Trump supporters in elected office, senators, congresspeople, governors, continuing to say the same thing, that the election was stolen,” he said.
He spoke on Tuesday at the Economic Club of Chicago with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on the topic of “Governing from the Middle.”
David Axelrod, an Obama staffer, moderated the conservation.
Romney has parroted the Establishment’s talking point that state and federal courts denied Trump’s claims about massive voter fraud and unconstitutional election alterations.
He said Trump’s campaign “had a chance to take their message to the courts, the courts laughed them out of court. I’ve seen no evidence that suggests that there was widespread voter fraud.”
But no court heard Trump’s claims on their merits, while courts discarded the rest of the cases on procedural grounds without considering any evidence.
The NeverTrump Republican, who preaches devotion to the Constitution and decency, apparently does not think that the anger and division is being caused by the unconstitutional impeachment trial against citizen Trump.
“Five people died with the attack on the Capitol. Five human beings died. There’s no question but that the president incited the insurrection that occurred. How culpable is he? That’s something we will evaluate.”
Despite Trump’s call for a peaceful protest on Jan. 6, Romney continues to blame the president for the damage done to the Capitol.
Romney said he wants damage from the Capitol protest—which has become the pretext to deny conservatives their freedom to speak and protest—to remain as a reminder of the “insurrection” that Trump “incited,” The Independent reported.
Alongside every Democrat and four other Republicans, Romney voted to move forward with the impeachment trial, which has the ultimate goal of preventing Trump from ever seeking elected office again.
Romney’s home state colleague, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, voted in favor of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s motion to declare the trial unconstitutional and end it.
“If the Senate were to adopt a broad interpretation of the impeachment power—one allowing federal officials to be convicted on impeachment charges even after leaving office—the result would not only be problematic, but also contrary to the text, structure and historical understanding of the Constitution,” Lee said in a statement.
Romney said that impeachment trial—far from furthering angering half the nation, which believes the 2020 presidential election was unconstitutional and fraudulent—is the first step toward unity.
“I believe that it’s an element of unity, which I look forward to having resolved so that we can move on,” he said.
