Mitt Romney speaking at the 2012 CPAC convention. Former GOP presidential nominee branded Donald Trump as “a phony, a fraud.” Photo: wiki commons.

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is charging into the increasingly divisive White House race with a verbal lashing of Donald Trump and a plea for fellow Republicans to shun the front-runner for the good of country and party.

Romney is branding the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” whose “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,” according to a speech Romney planned to give at the University of Utah on Thursday morning. The Associated Press obtained excerpts of his remarks in advance.

Read full story at The Associated Press.