'Really sad': Romney says Trump should tout vaccines instead of election conspiracies

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Sunday that President Trump's continuing struggle to overturn the November election is both “sad” and “embarrassing.”

“I understand the president is casting about trying to find some way to have a different result than the one that was delivered by the American people. But it’s really sad in a lot of respects, and embarrassing,” Romney said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Romney made the comments to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who asked him about reports that Trump discussed using martial law to try to reverse the outcome of the election. According to the New York Times, Trump asked about the martial law idea on Friday. Trump later denied it, tweeting: “Martial law = Fake News. Just more knowingly bad reporting!” Tapper called the idea “deranged.”

“Well, it’s not going to happen. That’s going nowhere,” Romney said of the reports.

The Times and the Associated Press also reported that Trump on Friday discussed naming Sidney Powell, who was ousted from Trump’s campaign legal team after she advanced wild and baseless conspiracy theories, to a special counsel position investigating election fraud allegations.

Trump himself has spread a series of unfounded conspiracy theories seeking to undermine the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump and his allies have also launched a number of lawsuits challenging the results, only to see court after court dismiss them as baseless.

On Sunday, Romney stressed that Trump could be focusing on successes battling the coronavirus. The U.S. recently green-lit two vaccines against the virus, which has killed more than 310,000 Americans and continues to put stress on health care infrastructure across the country.

“He could be going out and championing this extraordinary success,” said Romney, who once interviewed for a job in Trump’s administration but has emerged as one of the president’s most prominent GOP critics.

“And instead he’s leaving Washington with a whole series of conspiracy theories and things that are so loopy and nutty that people are shaking their head and wondering, ‘What in the world has gotten into this man?’” the Utah senator continued. “And I think that’s unfortunate because he has more accomplishments than this last chapter suggests he’s going to be known for.”

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