(REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
Donald Trump with Mitt Romney after endorsing Romney's candidacy for president in 2012.
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney plans to bash Donald Trump in a speech Thursday, according to excerpts of the speech being passed around social media.
In quoted remarks released by Bloomberg Politics editor Mark Halperin, Romney calls Trump "a phony, a fraud."
"He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat," Romney is expected to say.
Romney, who recently has been publicly critical of Trump's campaign, announced Thursday's speech on Wednesday at the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
It also looks as if Romney will take a few shots at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton:
While Romney has not endorsed a candidate, it looks as if he will praise certain GOP candidates on Thursday.
"Of the remaining candidates, the only serious policy proposals ... come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich," Politico's Mike Allen quotes Romney as planning to say.
Romney in recent days has been locked in a back-and-forth with Trump, whom he's denounced for dodging questions about the Ku Klux Klan and for not releasing his tax returns.
"A disqualifying & disgusting response by @realDonaldTrump to the KKK. His coddling of repugnant bigotry is not in the character of America," Romney tweeted on Monday after Trump said in an interview that he didn't know enough about former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke or white supremacists to denounce them.
Trump later attributed his answer to a faulty earpiece.