Incoming Sen. Romney questions Trump’s character in op-ed

WASHINGTON – Utah Sen.-elect Mitt Romney says President Donald Trump’s “conduct over the past two years … is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”

The Republican presidential nominee in 2012 is praising some of Trump’s policy decisions in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday. But Romney adds: “With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”

Romney says he doesn’t intend to comment on every Trump tweet, but he promises to “speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.”

The former Massachusetts governor will be sworn into the Senate on Thursday.