Mitt Romney: Trump's efforts to overturn election result are "undemocratic"

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) tweeted Thursday that President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result make it "difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president."

Why it matters: It's Romney's sharpest, most focused criticism of Trump yet. While the Utah senator has publicly needled the president over his actions during the last few months — especially regarding Trump's embrace of conspiracy theories like QAnon — he often has couched his criticism by targeting people across the political spectrum.

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What he's saying:

Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the president has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president.

The state of play: Romney's tweet comes ahead of Trump's White House invitation on Friday to Republican Michigan election officials — just as that state moves to certify its election results in President-elect Biden's favor, per the New York Times.

• A GOP canvasser in Wayne County, Michigan's most populous, said that Trump called her after she attempted to rescind her decision to certify results there.
• Biden won Michigan over Trump by nearly 150,000 votes.

The big picture: Trump and his campaign are seeking to discredit election tallies in Michigan and other key swing states that flipped to Biden this cycle as the president has engaged in baseless and unproven claims of widespread voter fraud that affected their results.

• Secretaries of state and election officials across the nation have reported no instances of widespread voter fraud, whether through in-person or mail-in voting.