Mitt Romney says Biden should have pardoned Trump as he rips ‘embarrassing’ Republicans flocking to trial

Senator Mitt Romney said Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought election-interference charges and pressured New York prosecutors to drop the case over alleged hush-money payments.

“He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Mr Romney said, referring to Mr Biden, during an interview on MSNBC’sThe 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.”

Mr Romney said pardoning Mr Trump would have put Mr Biden in a position of power over the former president.

“I mean, you may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned [Mr Trump],” Mr Romney said. “Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

Mr Romney also criticised the parade of Republican leaders trying use Mr Trump's trial to get their faces out in front of the public and press, calling the display "a little embarrassing."

"I think it’s a little demeaning to show up in front of a courthouse particularly one where we’re talking about an allegation of paying a porn star," Mr Romney told reporters before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Wednesday.

The proceedings have drawn crowds of onlookers and an army of press, which has made it fertile ground for Republican leaders hoping to visibly show their fealty to the 2024 GOP presidential candidate.

Among those edging their way into the fringes of the spotlight cast on Mr Trump were Senators Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville, and JD Vance, Representative Byron Donalds, House Speaker Mike Johnson, South Dakota's Governor Doug Burgum and failed GOP primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Mr Romney found the opportunistic displays disheartening.

"Really very difficult to watch," Mr Romney said. "There is a level of dignity and decorum that you expect from 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 is our nominee, it’s a little embarrassing."

Those visiting the trial often espouse the same talking points that Mr Trump has used; the trial is a travesty, a sham, a political hit job concocted by Democrats afraid of Mr Trump's chances in this year's election. Some, like Mr Vance, are prospective vice presidential picks.

Mr Johnson said Tuesday the trial was intended to keep Mr Trump from campaigning for re-election.

"This is the fifth week that President Trump has been in court for this sham of a trial," he said.

There is no evidence that the trial was spearheaded by Democrats.

That lack of evidence didn't stop Mr Vance from proclaiming that everyone involved was "practically" a Democratic operative.

Mr Scott, who is up for re-election this year, accompanied Mr Trump to court last week, and insisted his visit was purely to show support for his "friend".

“I’m here because I have known Donald Trump a long time,” he said. “I knew him before I was governor. I consider him a friend. And what he is going through is just despicable.”

Mr Scott has also been attacking Judge Juan Merchan's daughter, calling attention to someone who has no say in the trial and is a private individual.

“The judge’s daughter is a political operative and raises money for Democrats,” Mr Scott said in New York.

When asked on Fox News Sunday why he was attacking someone who was not involved in the trial or in politics in general, he insisted, like Mr Vance and other Republicans, that Democrats were pulling the strings at the trial.

“The Democrats are using the court system to go after and prosecute, criminally, a political opponent,” Mr Scott said. “They’re just thugs trying to stop Trump from being able to run for president.”

Mr Romney told MSNBC he did not approve of his colleagues attacking the US justice system in order to defend Mr Trump.

“I think it’s a terrible fault, for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that’s an enormous mistake,” he said. “I think it’s also demeaning for people to quite, apparently, try and run for vice president by donning the red tie and standing outside the courthouse and it’s just — I felt awkward.”

Mr Romney wasn't the only Republican leader to find the Trump teat suckling a bit pathetic. Senator Lisa Murkowski also called out her colleagues for parading around the court for the cameras.

“Do we have something to do around here other than watch a stupid porn trial? I mean, this is ridiculous,” she said on Tuesday, according to HuffPost.

Despite the criticism, at least Mr Trump seems to enjoy his underlings' wailing and gnashing of teeth.

“I do have a lot of surrogates, and they are speaking very beautifully,” Mr Trump told reporters outside the courthouse. “We have a lot of great people here to talk to you.”