Former presidential candidate and Republican Senator Mitt Romney has become one of the party’s first senior figures to criticize Donald Trump’s reaction to the election, calling him “reckless.”

Romney has said Trump “harms freedom” and that it “inflames recklessness.”

He tweeted: “It is within the President’s prerogative to request a retrial, there is evidence to call for an investigation into alleged voting irregularities, and to eliminate legal remedies – these things are consistent with our electoral process.”

“They are wrong to say that elections are rigged, corrupt and stolen – doing so undermines the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions at the base of the republic and inflates destructively and dangerously.”

Trump has claimed the election is ‘radical’ because he held the lead in states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia before the mail-in vote was counted.

He has now demanded a recount and has taken legal action.

Ramney’s comments came after Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Tumi called Trump’s claims “disruptive.”

He said CBS this morning: “There is no evidence that anyone has shown me any widespread corruption or fraud.

“The president’s speech last night disturbed me a lot because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it.”