Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should have settled the case against former president Donald Trump, but instead made a “political decision” to move forward with a trial. Romney called Democrats’ actions “political malpractice.”

Trump was found guilty in a Manhattan court of falsifying business records after labeling payments to an adult film actress as legal expenses in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Romney, who is a frequent critic of Trump, provided a comment about the trial to McKay Coppins, a writer for The Atlantic who wrote a biography about Romney.

“Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been the normal procedure. But he made a political decision,” Romney said, according to Coppins. “Bragg may have won the battle, for now, but he also may have lost the political war. Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It’s political malpractice.”

The 34 felony charges against Trump were brought by Bragg using a novel legal approach that tied the payments to Trump’s run for president. This turned what would typically be misdemeanor charges into felonies.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig called the case against Trump a “Frankenstein Case,” in a New York magazine article, because it tied a state-level misdemeanor to state and federal tax and election laws.

“Prosecutors got their man, for now at least — but they also contorted the law in an unprecedented manner in their quest to snare their prey,” he wrote.

Earlier, Romney said he thought President Joe Biden should have pardoned Trump.

“You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I’d have pardoned President Trump,” Romney told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. “Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

Trump and his legal team have said they will appeal the conviction after he is sentenced on July 11, four days before the start of the Republican National Convention. Trump also faces charges related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and for his handling of classified documents.