Romney Supports David French for Third-Party Run

Mitt Romney has opened the door to supporting attorney David French, should he decide to take up the call for a third-party bid for president.

Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, announced on Twitter Tuesday that French, a National Review columnist, was "honorable, intelligent and patriotic," according to a report in the Washington Examiner.

Romney's tweet:

I know David French to be an honorable, intelligent and patriotic person. I look forward to following what he has to say.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 1, 2016

French, who has been outspoken against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, has yet to decide whether he will mount a third-party challenge, the Examiner reported. But there are increasing calls from some conservative elements in the Republican Party for a serious third-party effort to block Trump.

French did tweet out a message to his supporters shortly after Romney seemed supportive to the idea, according to the Examiner.

I'm incredibly humbled by and grateful for the many expressions of support -- thank you.

— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 1, 2016

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, is pushing for a serious third-party candidate to block Trump and raised the idea of a French candidacy.

"To say that he would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him," Krisol said in a Weekly Standard column.