Story highlights
Mitt Romney insisted he will not make an 11th hour presidential run to try to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination
"I won't run for president," Romney told Matt Lauer in an appearance Friday morning on "Today" on NBC.
Mitt Romney said Friday he will not make an 11th-hour presidential run to try to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination, the day after sharply attacking the real estate mogul’s candidacy.
“I won’t run for president,” Romney told host Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show.
Lauer asked the 2012 GOP presidential nominee three times about his 2016 ambitions, pressing for an “unambiguous” response after Romney appeared to leave the door to a bid slightly open.
READ: Is the Republican Party over?
Romney first replied, “There are no circumstances I can foresee where (my running for president) would possibly happen.”
His second reply: “No reasonable scenario I can imagine.”
And finally: “I won’t run for president.”
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After Romney forcefully condemned the current GOP front-runner in a speech Thursday, speculation spread that Romney was signaling his willingness to be considered as a last-minute savior, should none of the current candidates win the required number of delegates.
Following his speech, a source close to the former Massachusetts governor told CNN that Romney had instructed his advisers to explore the possibility of stopping the real estate mogul at the Republican convention this summer.
RELATED: First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC
