Former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney tried to get President Joe Biden to pre-emptively pardon President Donald Trump to prevent future politically based prosecutions, he told CNN’s Dana Bash on Monday evening. File Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo
Former Sen. Mitt Romney urged advisers to former President Joe Biden to pre-emptively pardon President Donald Trump to prevent politically based prosecutions.
Romney announced his effort while being interviewed by CNN news anchor Dana Bash during a Monday evening event at Drew University in Morristown, N.J., according to CNN.
“I called a member of the White House, one of the senior advisers to President Biden,” Romney told Bash.
“I said, ‘If the Justice Department decides to indict PresidentTrump, I hope President Biden will immediately eliminate that and that he will provide a pardon immediately,'” Romney said.
“Why? Number one, I don’t want the anger and the hate and the vitriol,” Romney explained. “But number two, we just can’t begin to be prosecuting political opponents.”
He said pardoning Trump would have sent a clear message that politically based prosecutions are unacceptable, but “they didn’t do that.”
Romney’s comments came after the Justice Department on Friday secured a two-count federal indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly obstructing justice and lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 30, 2020.
Trump on Friday said his administration will seek more indictments against what he called “corrupt, radical-left Democrats.”
Romney speculated that Trump “was humiliated” by the Biden administration and by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had campaigned on indicting Trump and putting him on trial, The Hill reported.
A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 felonies related to a non-disclosure agreement with former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, but the judge presiding over the case did not impose any punishment.
The president has filed an appeal in the matter, which remains active.
