Romney: ‘Don’t expect’ Trump ‘to go quietly in the night’

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Sunday that the U.S. shouldn’t “expect” President Trump “to go quietly in the night” after Trump has spent the days since the election spreading false claims about victory and questioning the integrity of mail-in ballots. 

Romney told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump will “keep on fighting until the very end” over the election results after President-elect Joe Biden was projected the winner on Saturday. 

{mosads}“You’re not gonna 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, and so he’s gonna keep on fighting until the very end.”

Romney, who has spoken out against Trump and was the sole GOP senator who voted in favor of removing Trump during the president’s impeachment trial, said he’s “convinced that once all remedies have been exhausted” the current president “will accept the inevitable.”

“But don’t expect him to go quietly in the night,” he added. “That’s not how he operates.”

Sen. Mitt Romney on Pres. Trump’s unfounded election fraud claims: “He has a relatively relaxed relationship with the truth. … 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” pic.twitter.com/waICSUpiKD

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) November 8, 2020

CNN’s Jake Tapper also asked Romney about his own concession speech to former President Obama in 2012. The senator responded by saying he doesn’t think the U.S. should expect Trump to “respond in the same way” as losing presidential candidates have in the past. 

“He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do,” Romney said, adding that if the results are not in his favor after the court cases and final analysis, Trump “doesn’t have a choice” on whether to leave the White House.

Romney’s remarks come a day after Biden was projected to win the competitive presidential election. Since the projected win, Trump has refused to make a concession speech, pointing to unfounded claims of voter fraud that he said led to Biden’s win.

The Trump campaign has filed several lawsuits challenging the votes in battleground states following months of the president spreading false claims that mail-in ballots could lead to fraud.