Why does Mitt Romney think President Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump?

Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney is no fan of Donald Trump. That fact made the senator’s comments in a recent MSNBC interview all the more surprising. According to Romney, President Biden should have pardoned his predecessor as soon as he took office.

In case you haven’t kept score, the Romney-Trump beef dates back to at least 2014, when Trump said Romney shouldn’t run again after Romney failed to win The White House two years earlier. Since then, the two politicians have gone back-and-forth criticizing each other, but in 2016, then President-Elect Trump considered Romney for Secretary of State. Those negotiations, however, fell apart and Romney went on to become the GOP senator to vote to convict Trump in both his impeachment trials.

So, do Romney’s remarks to MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle mean the Cold War between the two politicians has thawed a bit, with Trump the presumptive GOP presidential nominee in 2024? As it turns out, Romney brought up a Biden-Trump pardon less for how it might reflect on the former president, but for what it might do to Biden’s image.

It’s like David and Goliath

In Mitt Romney’s words, President Biden should have immediately pardoned Donald Trump on all federal charges as soon as possible, ” … [B]ecause it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned the little guy.” Romney added that the federal cases won’t get resolved before the election, anyway. “It’s not going to have an impact before the election. And, frankly, the country doesn’t want to have to go through prosecuting a former president.” Romney said.

Romney added the American public is aware of everything Trump’s been accused of, and it hasn’t changed the minds of many. ” … [T]hese things are not changing the public attitude,” he said.

Romney’s still not a Trump voter

That being said, Mitt Romney is still not a Trump supporter, nor does it seem like his comments are an olive branch to get Trump’s VP pick. (Romney has said he will not seek reelection in 2024.) To put a finer point on it, Romney told Stephanie Ruhle,

I’m not going to be voting for President Trump. I made that clear. I know, for some people, the character is not the number one issue. It is for me. When someone has been, well, determined by a jury to have committed sexual assault, that’s not someone who I want my kids and grandkids to see as president of the United States.”

via The Guardian

However, Romney declined to say if he’d cast his vote for Biden.

As it stands, Trump faces 88 criminal charges, and about half of those are at the federal level. Biden wouldn’t be able to pardon Trump on charges brought by states. Trump is accused of election subversion, retaining classified documents, civil suits related to his various businesses, and a hush money scandal involving a retired porn star, among other allegations. To date, some cases have not yet gone to court.