Utah Sen. Mitt Romney knows what it’s like to lose a presidential race, and it’s time for President Donald Trump to move on from falsely claiming the election was stolen.
Romney also said in appearances on network news programs the past two days that President-election Joe Biden is going to be in a very difficult position as a result of Trump’s efforts to overturn the will of voters.
“The biggest concern that I have is that people here genuinely believe that somehow this election was stolen and there’s no evidence of that. The president was saying that it was stolen even before Election Day happened. He said if he loses it would be fraud. Well, no one knows that,” he told Shephard Smith in a CNBC interview Monday night.
“I thought I was going to win too when I ran for president in 2012. I didn’t. I didn’t go out and say ‘fraud.’ We have a process. We count the votes. That’s the way it is.”
Romney said Trump is hurting democracy at home and abroad.
“People look to us,” the senator said. “We are the democratic leader of the world. What’s going on now, I’m afraid, is terribly dispiriting to people all over the globe.”
On Monday, the Electoral College affirmed Biden’s win over Trump. But the president continued Tuesday to push his election fraud claims.
“Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!” Trump tweeted.
In a statement after the electoral vote, Sen. Mike Lee acknowledged Biden secured the votes needed to win the presidency, yet he suggested the election might not be over.
“Our election process took a major step today when presidential electors met in their respective states and cast 306 electoral votes for former Vice President Joe Biden — more than the 270 electoral votes he needs to become president-elect,” Lee said.
“Concerns regarding fraud and irregularities in this election remain active in multiple states, and those concerns need to be addressed by Congress and state and local officials throughout the country. But absent new information that could give rise to a judicial or legislative determination altering the impact of today’s electoral-college votes, Joe Biden will become president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2021.”
A CBS News poll conducted last week showed 38% of Americans don’t believe Biden is the legitimate winner of the presidential election. That number jumps to 82% among Trump voters.
Shown that poll Tuesday on “CBS This Morning,” Romney said, “I think it’s a very difficult position that President-elect Biden is going to be in as a result of President Trump’s efforts to try and overturn the will of the people.”
Romney said every court has said Trump doesn’t a have a case, the Electoral College has voted and it’s clear Biden will become the next president.
“Once you’ve lost ... move on. Look, I’ve lost. I lost in 2012. I didn’t like losing, but you have to acknowledge it and move on,” he said.
Romney also noted that Attorney General William Barr, who announced his resignation Monday, said an FBI investigation didn’t uncover widespread election fraud.
“I think he’s a man of great capacity. It was clear that being part of the administration was challenging for responsibility for him to say the least and I’m not surprised that he could no longer associate himself with the process that is going on now,” Romney said on CNBC.
There are a lot of people who have been Trump loyalists who in the end find they can’t go all the way, Romney said on CBS.
“Bill Barr drew a line in the sand. The president stepped over it with this ongoing effort to try and overturn the will of the voters, and Bill Barr apparently had enough,” he said.
Romney said he hopes Biden brings Americans together, not just with rhetoric but with an agenda with an agenda that is not divisive.
“I’m looking forward to working with him. I’m on the opposite side of the aisle. We’re not going to agree on every policy proposal that he’ll make, but I’m certainly going to treat him and his administration with respect,” he said.
Romney was among the first GOP senators to congratulate Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after the Nov. 3 election, something many Republicans refused to do.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized Biden as the president-elect for the first time on Tuesday, after declining to do so while Trump challenged the election results.
“Our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect,” he said at the end of Senate floor speech praising Trump’s accomplishments. “The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.”
On CBS, Romney was asked how he navigated often being a Republican lone voice against Trump.
Romney said he wondered how he would be received among the GOP Senate caucus after his impeachment trial vote to remove the president. He said he received a call from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the next day.
“He said, ‘Mitt, I wouldn’t want to be part of any group that didn’t respect someone for doing what their conscience told them to do,’” Romney said.
Senate Republicans sometimes disagree but there is respect within the party and across the aisle, Romney said.
The senator also was asked if he ever sought a private meeting with Trump.
“I don’t think that’s something which he would like to do,” Romney said. “We’ve had a couple of meetings in the past and they haven’t been terribly fruitful.”