DETROIT — (CNN) Mitt Romney recorded robocalls for Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign that are going out in all four states voting on Tuesday, CNN has confirmed.
It’s part of an escalating effort by Romney to block Donald Trump from securing the Republican presidential nomination.
First reported by The New York Times, the robocalls do not represent an outright endorsement of Rubio, and a spokesperson for Romney indicated the 2008 GOP nominee would be willing to help Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich as well.
“Gov. Romney has offered and is glad to help Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Gov. John Kasich in any way he can,” the spokesperson told CNN. “He’s been clear that he believes that Donald Trump is not the best person to represent the Republican Party and will do what he can to support a strong nominee who holds conservative values to win back the White House.”
The spokesperson also the substance of the message, in which Romney tells voters to back “a candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton and who can make us proud.”
“If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, I believe that the prospects for a safe and prosperous future would be greatly diminished,” Romney says. “And I’m convinced Donald Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton.”
The robocalls follow Romney’s withering denunciation of Trump in a speech at the Hinckley Institute Thursday, where he called Trump a “phony” and a “fraud,” and vowed to work to prevent Trump from becoming the Republican standard bearer.
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