Mitt Romney has shut the door on a presidential run.
Speculation ran high that the former Republican nominee would consider a third run for the White House after he took to the stage on Thursday to speak out against current frontrunner Donald Trump. He followed up his speech with an appearance on the Today show Friday morning, at which point he shut down the rumors.
“I am not running for president, and I won’t run for president,” Romney told host Matt Lauer, who pressed him on the question three times.
Though Romney won’t be running, he has vowed to do “everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don’t nominate Donald Trump.”
When asked about the timing of his speech, Romney told Lauer that “Trump’s outrage had reached such a level” that he couldn’t remain silent any longer. He said at some point his grandkids will ask what he did to stop Donald Trump, and he wants to have an answer. When Lauer brought up the fact that Romney accepted Trump’s endorsement just four years earlier, he said he wouldn’t have welcomed it had he heard him say all the controversial things he’s said this past year.
Romney has yet to endorse any of the other candidates. However he said he feels confident that within the next couple of weeks the field will thin out, at which point he’ll consider endorsing someone.
