Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has waded into the party's divisive 2016 presidential campaign to launch a scathing attack on Donald Trump.
In a speech that will be delivered at the University of Utah later on Thursday, Mr Romney will label the tycoon a "fraud" and will call on Republicans to shun him for the good of the party.
The former Governor of Massachusetts has joined a growing group of anxious Republican figures attempting to slow the real estate mogul's momentum in the nomination process.
He will say: "Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud."
Mr Romney will say that a win for Mr Trump at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July would enable Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, according to excerpts of his speech seen by the Associated Press news agency.
He adds that Mr Trump, who has courted controversy with a series of remarks against women, Muslims and Mexicans, "has neither the temperament nor the judgement to be president".
Mr Trump enjoyed victories in seven states on Super Tuesday, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz claiming three states and Florida Senator Marco Rubio winning just one.
According to a delegate count, the tycoon has won 46% of the delegates awarded so far, and he will need to increase that to 51% in the remaining primaries to claim the nomination.
In his speech, Mr Romney calls this moment a "time for choosing" and will add that "the only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront have come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich."
The speech will also claim that Mr Trump's "domestic policies would lead to recession", his "foreign policies would make America and the world less safe" and his "personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill".
Party strategists have cast 15 March as the last opportunity to stop Mr Trump through the normal path of winning states and collecting delegates.
A win for Mr Rubio in his home state of Florida could raise questions over Mr Trump's strength.
The candidates will have an opportunity to make their case to voters during a prime-time debate on Thursday night.
It comes after retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson all but ended his campaign on Wednesday, saying he would not attend the debate and saying he did "not see a political path forward".
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