Mitt Romney Calls GOP Effort To Question Electoral College Votes An 'Egregious Ploy'

BOSTON (CBS) - After several Republican senators announced their plan to oppose certification of the presidential election results, former Massachusetts Governor and current Utah Senator Mitt Romney criticized them in a statement on Saturday, calling the actions an "egregious ploy" that threatens democracy.

One group of 11 Senators, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, say they will reject the Electoral College results unless a commission is appointed to conduct a 10-day audit of the results. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, working separately from Cruz's group, will also challenge the Electoral College results when Congress gets together to count the votes Wednesday.

The Electoral College affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's 306 electoral votes in December.

"The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic," said Romney. "The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice."

The 73-year-old made note in his statement that the Justice Department found no evidence of voter fraud, and that all of President Trump's attempts to overturn the election results have failed.

"My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life," said Romney. "Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it."

Romney ended his statement saying, "I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?"