Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) believes President Joe Biden should have pardoned former President Donald Trump after he was indicted, NBC News reported. Romney has been one of Trump's outspoken critics but believes Biden "made an enormous mistake" and missed an opportunity.
Romney made these remarks on MSNBC's The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday. The failed GOP presidential candidate believes Biden should have formally pardoned Trump and leaned on New York not to prosecute his predecessor.
Trump is currently facing federal indictments as well as a hush-money case in New York. Romney believes Biden could have gone a long way to helping himself and Trump out by using his influence.
The prosecution of a former president goes well beyond whatever the personal stakes are for Trump. "I'd have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy," Romney said.
He compared it to the way former President Lyndon B. Johnson pardoned President Richard Nixon to help the nation move on. He believes Biden should have handled it in the same way.
"If LBJ had been president, and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he’d have been all over that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not bring that forward or I’m gonna drive you out of office,'" Romney said. Democrats instead chose to roll the dice on putting Trump behind bars.
Romney believes that some of the collateral damage comes from Republicans who are sticking their necks out for Trump. Romney believes they are vying to become Trump's potential vice presidential picks by denigrating the justice system on his behalf.
"I think it’s a terrible fault for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that’s an enormous mistake. I think it’s also demeaning for people to quite apparently try and run for vice president by donning a red tie and standing outside the courthouse," Romney claimed.
While Romney thinks it's a bad look, the reality is that several prominent GOP lawmakers have come out in defense of Trump. They include the likes of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has also been in Trump's corner. Romney doesn't like this opportunism in the GOP but simultaneously believes Biden missed a golden opportunity for himself.
"He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump," Romney said.
Romney also seemed uncharacteristically supportive of Trump in his upcoming debate with Biden. "I think people have very low expectations as to what President Biden will do. I think they have much higher expectations about President Trump and his competitiveness," Romney said.
Romney believes Biden should have pardoned Trump for the good of everyone involved. Perhaps Democrats thought they could successfully make Trump go away by prosecuting him, but it increasingly appears to have been a grave miscalculation.
