“I know that some people are offended that someone who lost and is the former nominee continues to speak, but that’s how I can sleep at night,” Mitt Romney said. | AP Photo Romney: I speak out against Trump to sleep at night

For Mitt Romney, the decision to take on Donald Trump was a matter of personal integrity, the former Republican nominee suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday.

“I know that some people are offended that someone who lost and is the former nominee continues to speak, but that’s how I can sleep at night,” Romney said. “And there are some people, though it’s a small number, who still value my opinion.”


Recalling a conversation with his son Josh, the former Massachusetts governor said he was asked, "When the grandkids ask ‘What did you do to stop Donald Trump?’ what are you going to say?’" The Boston Globe reported the same account in March.

Despite those who do value his opinion and the efforts of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol in wooing him into a third-party run, Romney told the Journal, “I made it clear I’m not running,”

Romney remarked in the same interview that he would not vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, in the November election, reiterating that he would rather vote for a write-in candidate.