"I think you're not going to find a credible candidate actually running as a third-party contender," Romney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview in Park City, Utah. "I'd like to see someone run, but that's not likely."

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Asked if he'd personally seek such a candidacy, Romney insisted nothing has changed.

"No, that's not something I'm going to be doing," he said.

The former GOP nominee said he doesn't regret not running again but said he would have put up a fight against Trump.

"I thought it was time for someone new. I'm glad I wasn't out there with Donald Trump," he said. "Had I been in the race, I can assure you I would have taken him on." "I'm sure he believes he would have been successful pushing me aside just like he did others in part because I would have been seen as an establishment Republican," Romney added.

Romney offered a scathing evaluation of Trump's "character," describing his past comments and policies as evidence that he'd be a "dangerous" president, saying that he is "too great a departure from the values of our country."



“Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extremely dangerous to the heart and character of America," he said.

When asked if he thinks Trump is racist, Romney responded: "Oh, I think his comments time and again appeal to the racist tendency that exists in some people, and I think that's very dangerous.”

Romney condemned Trump's recent attacks on a federal judge — Trump has claimed Judge Gonzalo Curiel cannot impartially preside over a Trump University fraud case because of his Mexican heritage — and said he doesn't "want to be associated with that in any way, shape or form."