Romney slams GOP lawmakers at hush money trial, says Biden should have pardoned Trump

Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney slammed his fellow conservative lawmakers on Wednesday, for attending former President Donald Trump's trial in New York this week.

The criticism comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson, several potential Trump vice presidential picks like Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and former Trump challenger-turned ally Vivek Ramaswamy appeared in the court room for Trump's hush money trial on Monday and Tuesday.

Romney claimed it was embarrassing for the lawmakers and Trump allies to use the court case as a way to appeal to the former president, in an attempt to gain his favor.

“I think it’s a little demeaning to show up in front of a courthouse and — particularly one where we’re talking about an allegation of paying a porn star,” Romney told reporters in a video clip from Politico. “There is a level of dignity and decorum that you expect of people who are running for the highest station in the land, and going out and prostrating themselves in front of the public to try and apparently curry favor with the person who’s our nominee, it’s a little embarrassing."

Romney also argued that President Joe Biden, who is running for reelection against Trump this November, should have pardoned the former president because it would have been a power move that made Biden seem "big," and Trump small.

He also said Biden should have pushed to keep the trial from taking place if he didn't do a full pardon.

"He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward. It was a win-win for Donald Trump, ” Romney told NBC News of Biden. “I’ve been around for a while, 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."

Speaker Johnson spoke out about the alleged hush money trial on Tuesday, in which Trump is accused of doctoring financial documents to hide an alleged hush money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels. But critics of the trial claim there has been no evidence that Trump knew of the payments, or attempted to hide them.

“This is the fifth week that President Trump has been in court for this sham of a trial. They are doing this intentionally to keep him here and keep him off of the campaign trail,” Johnson said, per the Hill. “And I think everybody in the country can see that for what it is.”

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.