Romney: Time to 'get behind the new president,' calling Trump '900-pound gorilla' for GOP

WASHINGTON – Republicans split on accepting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's victory in Sunday morning television interviews, with the party's 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney indicating the contest was all but over, while other lawmakers refused to accept the results.

Romney, now a Republican senator from Utah, said on CNN's "State of the Union" it was time to "get behind the new president."

He declined to criticize other Republicans' refusal to accept the results, but said on "Fox News Sunday" of his own decision to concede the 2012 election: "At some point truth, freedom and democracy have to ascend, and you step aside."

Romney also brushed aside Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. There was "no evidence" of widespread voter fraud, Romney said on "State of the Union," adding, "I think it's important for us to recognize that the world is watching."

Media outlets called the election for Biden Saturday after he secured the 270 electoral votes required to win. Trump has refused to concede the election, alleged widespread voter fraud, and falsely asserts he has won the election.

The Biden campaign has moved forward in preparing for a new administration anyway, launching plans for the transition of presidential authority. But Biden campaign adviser Symone Sanders said Sunday on CNN they had not yet heard from the White House.

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Some Republican senators did not say the election was over but indicated the process was coming to a close.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., acknowledged the "media projection is probably correct" for a Biden victory but said the American people "deserve to have this process play out" as the Trump campaign attempted to litigate election results.

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri – the Republican senator who chairs the congressional committee that plans the presidential inauguration – said the onus was on Trump's lawyers to present evidence for their claims of fraud.

"I thought it was time for the president to turn this discussion over to his lawyers, time for the lawyers to make the case that they have, both in court and to the American people, and then we're going to have to deal with those facts as they're presented," he said on ABC's "This Week."

"That has to happen and then we move forward," he continued.

The Missouri Republican noted there might be changes in election results as votes were counted but it "seems unlikely that any changes could be big enough to make a difference."

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Other Republican lawmakers went further and said the election was far from over.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the top Republican in the House, said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that the election was not over until every "legal ballot was counted, recounts concluded, and litigation finished."

"Why would you call the presidential race first," he said, while congressional races were still undecided.

Two other Republican senators said on "Sunday Morning Futures" the election was still undecided.

"The media doesn’t decide who becomes president," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "If they did, you would never have a Republican president for forever, so we’re discounting them.”

Media outlets, including Fox News, have called the election for Biden.

And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called it "way premature" to declare Biden the winner, adding, "At this point, we do not know who has prevailed in the election."

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Trump is likely to cast a long shadow over the Republican Party even after he is out of office.

"He’s not disappearing by any means," Romney said in a pretaped interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press," calling Trump the "900-pound gorilla when it comes to the Republican Party."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mitt Romney, Republicans wrestle with response to Trump's defeat