Senator Mitt RomneyR-Utah, argued that the president Joe Biden should have forgiven donald trump after Department of Justice he brought accusations against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump’s plan hush money trial underway.
In an exclusive interview on the program “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle”, Romney expressed his dismay in response to Republican lawmakers, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee vice president prospectsrallying to Trump’s defense outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump’s hush money trial is taking place.
“How do you feel about Republicans?” Ruhle asked Romney.
Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, said: “I think it’s a terrible failure that our country sees people attacking our legal system – that’s a huge mistake,” he said. “I think it’s also demeaning for people, apparently, to try to run for vice president by wearing the red tie and standing outside the courthouse and it’s just — I would have felt weird.”
The Utah Republican argued that Biden should have pardoned Trump when the Justice Department announced charges against him and that the president “made a huge mistake” by not pressuring New York prosecutors to drop the case against Trump. (Presidents can only pardon in federal cases.)
“He should have fought like crazy to stop this charge from going forward,” Romney said, referring to Biden. “It was a victory for Donald Trump.”
Pressed by Ruhle whether this is Biden’s role in pardoning Trump, Romney said he believes Biden should have taken a cue from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, saying the president could have intervened and urged New York prosecutors to drop the case. .
“I’ve been around for a while, if LBJ was president and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he would have attacked that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not file this or I’m going to get you out of office,’” he said.
Ruhle then noted that Romney supports separate but equal branches of government.
“I do. … I mean, you might disagree with that, but if I were President Biden, when the Justice Department brought the charges, I would have pardoned him immediately… President Trump. Why? Well, because that makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I forgave, a little boy.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and several of Trump’s potential vice presidential candidates issued public comments outside the Manhattan courthouse, where Trump is required to attend court proceedings in the hush money trial against him , expressing your support and loyalty to him. as the trial limits his campaign time. The potential vice presidential picks, which include Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have repeated, without evidence, Trump’s accusations that the trial was a Democratic-led effort to interfere in his campaign. .
Biden and Trump on Wednesday agreed to participate in general election debates in June and September, at least the first of which will not have a live audience. Asked whether the debates are important today and whether he thinks they would influence votes, Romney, who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama in 2012, said people have “low expectations” for Biden but “much higher expectations.” elevated” in relation to Trump.
“The image that comes to mind is those two old guys from the Muppets, you know, sitting in the back — Statler and Waldorf — that comes to mind, but I actually think there’s going to be a big audience for these debates,” he said. “ I think people have very low expectations of what President Biden will do. I think they have much higher expectations of President Trump and his competitiveness.”
Romney added that he had “good exchanges” with Biden and that Trump “seems energetic and energetic” during his rallies, but he’s not sure what to expect when they face off in the debates.
“You have a lively crowd and teleprompters you can read, so how will they do in person?” Romney said, referring to presidential campaign rallies. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I think America will be watching.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
