CNN
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Sen. Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of Donald Trump who will soon retire from Congress, maintained his criticism of the president-elect’s character but said Trump and his MAGA movement now define the Republican Party.

“As you know, I am not a supporter of President Trump. I did not support him in this election. The last time he ran, I didn’t run either, mostly for character reasons,” the Utah Republican, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an extensive interview on Sunday’s “State of the Union.” .

But Romney acknowledged Trump’s influence on the party he once led.

“MAGA is the Republican Party and Donald Trump is the Republican Party today,” he said.

Asked about his ongoing criticism of Trump, which dates back to the president-elect’s first run for the White House in 2016, Romney described himself as “kind of outspoken” and said he felt Trump was “wrong for the country , wrong for our party” was “I wouldn’t win,” but he noted, “I was wrong.”

“I think most people disagree with me. I’m willing to live with it. I just put an emphasis on different things than I think the general public does right now,” he said.

However, Romney argued that the new president deserves a “chance” to do what he promised when he returned to the White House.

“I agree with him on many political points. “I disagree with him on some things,” Romney said of Trump. “But it’s like, OK, give him a chance to do what he said and see how it works out.”

Asked about the fact that Trump made some unorthodox choices for the Cabinet, Romney called it “an unusual collection of people, not the people I would have chosen,” but said Trump has “the right” to own his decisions because he won the election.

However, Romney said, “The Senate has a responsibility to ensure that these people are legitimate, that there is no framework that could embarrass them or the country” and that the nominees are qualified for the position.

Romney was elected to the Senate in 2018 and is known as a distinctive voice in the House who was willing to take on his own party. During Trump’s first impeachment trial, Romney was the only Republican in the Senate to find him guilty of abuse of power. In 2021, he was one of seven Senate Republicans to cross party lines and find Trump guilty of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Asked what he thinks the legacy of the Jan. 6 attack will be, Romney said he believes it will be viewed as “a very dark day in American history” and that “it’s unfortunate that it “There are some in the MAGA world who are trying to paper over it, but I don’t think it’s possible.”

But Romney also said he believes American institutions will hold firm in the coming years “because I think people want to protect the roots of freedom given the reality of what’s at stake.”

Trump and his allies have suggested that he could use the Justice Department against his political enemies in his second term.

Asked if he feared he or his family could become a target of political retaliation from Trump, Romney replied: “No, actually I’ve been pretty clean my whole life. I’m not particularly worried about criminal investigations.”

“By the way, I don’t know how much of what the president is saying is exaggeration,” he said, adding, “I think President Trump will probably try to focus on the future.”

The Utah Republican also praised Vice President-elect JD Vance, calling the Ohio senator “smart” and predicting he will be the Republican nominee in 2028.

“If you asked me who the nominee would be in 2028, I think it would be JD Vance, all right? He’s smart, articulate and part of the MAGA movement,” Romney said, downplaying previous criticism of Vance as comments from “a long time ago,” saying, “I’m not going to rehash the story, and we’ve worked together for years.” . “We’ve been together in the Senate ever since.”

Reflecting on the results of the recent presidential election, Romney said Trump deserves “credit” for turning working-class voters from the Democrats to the Republican Party.

“Look, the Republican Party has become the party of working-class and middle-class voters, and you have to give Donald Trump credit for doing that, by taking that away from the Democrats,” he said.

Romney said that after some voters switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP, “some realignment in my party will be necessary” but that the Democratic Party “is the one that’s in trouble.”

He also reflected on his long political career on the national stage, including his unsuccessful run against Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, and how he was the focus of public attacks by Democrats during his presidential bid and was praised by Democrats during his run Time in the Senate for his willingness to break with Trump.

“When I look back on campaigns and think about the fear that comes with every mistake I or a campaign member made, these little things have ballooned into huge proportions,” he said. “It’s kind of amusing to see things that look quaint in retrospect.”

Romney said Obama was “wise in some ways to go after me and say, ‘This is a rich businessman, we’re going to characterize him as a plutocrat who doesn’t care about the people.’ He went along with this narrative and published it before I could really respond effectively, and succeeded.”

Romney shrugged off a question about how he would like history to remember him, downplaying his legacy as “a footnote to someone who reads ancient history” but saying he wants his family to remember him.

“I want my family to remember me as someone who stood up for the things I believed in, who was not ashamed of my core beliefs, who loved the country and did what I believed was right to contribute to the cause “To contribute to the preservation of the greatest nation on earth,” he said.

CNN’s Clare Foran and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.