AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
- Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 GOP presidential presidential nominee, called the country to support the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
- President Donald Trump has still refused to acknowledge the results of the election, a day after most major news networks and agencies called the race for Biden.
- Romney said that Trump “will accept the inevitable” once he has exhausted all legal avenues to contest the election results.
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Sen. Mitt Romney on Sunday said that the country should support the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, adding that he hasn’t seen any indication of extensive voter fraud or irregularities, according to CNN.
On CNN’s “State of the Union,” the Utah Republican and 2012 GOP presidential nominee called for unity in the wake of the incredibly contentious presidential election.
“I think we get behind the new president, unless for some reason that’s overturned, we get behind the new president and wish him the very best,” he said.
While virtually ever major news organization has already called the race for Biden, President Donald Trump’s campaign has pushed lawsuits in a range of swing states and the president himself has neither publicly conceded nor reached out to Biden directly.
—State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 8, 2020
Romney, who was the first sitting Republican senator to congratulate Biden after the race was called, gave a frank response when asked why Trump continues to falsely claim that he won the election.
"You're not going to change the nature of President Trump in these last days, apparently, of his presidency," he said. "He is who he is, and he has a relatively relaxed relationship with the truth. He's going to keep on fighting until the very end. I'm convinced that once all remedies have been exhausted, if those are exhausted in a way that's not favorable to him, he will accept the inevitable."
Over the years, Romney and Trump have had a tumultuous relationship, but it reached a breaking point in February when the senator voted to convict the president for abuse of power during his impeachment trial.
Romney had a final warning to those who are wondering how Trump will approach the impending presidential transition.
"Don't expect him to go quietly into the night," he said. "That's not how he operates."