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Mitt Romney on Friday put to rest speculation that he would be open to rescuing the Republican Party by wresting the presidential nomination away from Donald J. Trump at the convention this summer.

At his speech in Utah on Thursday, Mr. Romney tore down Mr. Trump but did not endorse another candidate. Some took that to mean he was hoping that none of the contenders would gather the delegates needed to be the nominee, leaving open the possibility that he could run for president.

But Mr. Romney said on Friday that he had no plans ride in on a white horse to be the party’s savior.

“The people who can save this party are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or John Kasich,” Mr. Romney said in an interview in New York with NBC’s “Today” show.

The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee said that he anticipated that one of those three would emerge as an alternative to Mr. Trump in the next couple of weeks and that he would support that person.

Mr. Romney’s remarks about Mr. Trump came up during the Republican debate in Detroit on Thursday night, as Mr. Trump was repeatedly asked to address Mr. Romney’s criticism. He responded forcefully, calling Mr. Romney “a failed candidate” who “wants to be back in the game.”

But Mr. Romney, who was defeated by President Obama in 2012, insisted the game of presidential politics was over for him.

“There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen,” Mr. Romney said of a last-minute run this year. “No reasonable scenario I can imagine.”

Asked if he was being careful to leave the door cracked, Mr. Romney closed it.

“I’m not running for president,” he said. “I won’t run for president.”

In an interview later Friday with the Fox Business Network, Mr. Romney said that he would not be opposed to a “brokered convention” but that if it came down to a general election match-up of Mr. Trump against Hillary Clinton, he would write in the name of a true conservative.

Mr. Romney also shed more light on why he decided not make a third run for president. He said it had more to do with Mrs. Clinton than concerns about Mr. Trump or Jeb Bush.

“I looked at the race and I said, look, Hillary Clinton is going to be hard to beat,” Mr. Romney said. “Another bad prediction on my part, because she’s turned out a lot weaker than I thought.”