Ann Romney: If Mitt had been elected president, ‘I do not believe there would have been an invasion in Ukraine’

Ann Romney: If Mitt had been elected president, ‘I do not believe there would have been an invasion in Ukraine’

By Steven Shapiro

Ann Romney says Russia would not have invaded Ukraine had her husband, Mitt, been elected president. In a clear shot at the Obama administration, Romney told Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga, "I do not believe there would  have been an invasion, of course, in Ukraine. I believe Putin would have known there would've been consequences to that."

The former GOP candidate's wife says there are no plans right now for her husband to run again, despite encouraging poll numbers that show him as a leading candidate.

"One poll's not going to sway us," she said. "I think a lot of Americans know that Mitt was right and have trust in his abilities. And, you know, it's a tough time. I think America's in a tough place."

Romney also said Republicans need to do more to attract female voters.

"I would be the first one to say that we need to do a better job," she said. "The GOP needs to do a much better job of letting women know that they are working for them and hearing them and listening to them and knowing about their concerns."

Romney herself is fighting a personal battle tougher than any political campaign. She has multiple sclerosis — a disabling disease that affects the central nervous system and disrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body.

"It took me a good, long while to come to grips with it. I would even say years," she said.

Romney has managed her illness, for which there is no cure, through mainstream and alternative medicines and therapies — ones she wants others suffering from neurological diseases (including Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's and brain tumors) to benefit from, too. She has just announced plans to open the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The center is expected to open in 2016.

"I want to be a voice ― for those that are suffering and for so many that are suffering from a neurologic disease where there is no treatment. So this center is exciting."

Her personal physician, Dr. Howard Weiner, who has treated her disease for years, will help oversee the new facility.

"We have what we call a collision of collaboration," he said. "So what we discover in Alzheimer's or ALS might help MS and vice versa," she said.

Romney said that her illness has no impact on her husband's political future and that the couple is very focused on their work with the Romney Center.

"This is what I'm focused on, and this is what I'm passionate about. It's what Mitt's passionate about right now."

 Watch the full interview here:

Ann Romney answers questions from viewers: