Sen. Mitt Romney is shown leaving a meeting in September in Washington, D.C.
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‘He is wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen — doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions.’
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That’s Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah making the case in a tweet on Friday that President Donald Trump had gone too far in his rhetoric as Democratic challenger Joe Biden appeared close to being declared the winner of the White House race, which occurred Saturday morning as the Associated Press and other news organizations determined Pennsylvania and then Nevada were out of Trump’s grasp.
Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, also gave Trump a measure of leeway. The senator tweeted: “The President is within his rights to request recounts, to call for investigation of alleged voting irregularities where evidence exists, and to exhaust legal remedies — doing these things is consistent with our election process.”
See: President Bush says presidential election was conducted fairly and produced a clear outcome
Romney’s take comes after the president late Thursday blasted the vote-counting processes in several states, including Georgia and Pennsylvania — crucial swing states where Biden had taken narrow advantages in vote counts.
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” Trump said. The Republican incumbent also said there have been “a lot of shenanigans,” and mail-in voting is a “corrupt system.”
The National Council on Election Integrity, a bipartisan group, said there was “absolutely no basis” for Trump’s claims.
Appearing Sunday on CNN, Romney repeated his argument that it’s “destructive to the cause of democracy” to air unfounded election-fraud claims, noting that “it’s important for us to recognize that the world is watching.”
U.S. stock gauges
DJIA,
COMP,
are coming off their best week since April as the election aftermath plays out, despite a step-back Friday as traders sifted through a better-than-expected jobs report and weighed a surge in COVID-19 cases as well as the ballot tabulations in a variety of tightly contested states.
