Article snippet: SALT LAKE CITY — In the hours after President Trump called on China to investigate his political foe — plowing through another political guardrail — Democrats and Trump critics looked for signs that his party would slap him back. Seeking foreign help in an election is illegal. Who would stand up and say so? Twenty-four hours later, Mitt Romney stepped in. ‘‘By all appearances, the president’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling,’’ he tweeted. Romney’s delayed criticism seemed to capture the senator’s continued discomfort with the role of chief Trump critic, and a possible reluctance to restart the kind of back-and-forth that revved up on Saturday as Trump took to Twitter. The president unleashed a personal attack on Romney, calling him ‘‘pompous,’’ while defending his conversations with Ukraine and China as appropriate. The mild-mannered, failed-presidential-candidate-turned-senator has shown he feels compelled to speak out against Trump at key moments. But he doesn’t appear quick to the draw. While Trump detractors are looking to Romney to play a key role in rallying GOP opposition to the president in the unfolding impeachment saga, it’s far from clear Romney wants the job. Romney has left the door open further than most, said Reed Galen, a consultant who worked for Senator John McCain, George W. Bush, and Arnold Schwarzenegger before leaving the GOP in 2016. But ‘‘there’s a long way from openi... Link to the full article to read more