Over 100 Former Republican Officials Sign Letter Endorsing Kamala Harris And Warning Trump ‘Cannot Be Trusted’

AP Photo/John Bazemore

An open letter signed by 111 former Republican elected officials and national security and foreign relations officials who served under GOP administrations declared their endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris over their own party nominee, former President Donald Trump.

The letter, which was addressed to the public and can be read here, stated that while they disagreed with Harris on certain policies, it was the Democratic candidate who was more fit to serve in the highest office in the land:

We expect to disagree with Kamala Harris on many domestic and foreign policy issues, but we believe that she possesses the essential qualities to serve as President and Donald Trump does not. We therefore support her election to be President.

While much of the two-page letter is spent explaining why they oppose Trump, the case is also made in favor of Harris, including her commitment to strengthening and supporting the military, her support for the bipartisan border bill that Trump scuttled for political reasons, her intention to stand with NATO and against Russia, her policies related to the Israel-Hamas War, and her promise to appoint a Republican to her cabinet if elected.

When it came to Trump, the critique was more in line with a warning:

We firmly oppose the election of Donald Trump. As President, he promoted daily chaos in government, praised our enemies and undermined our allies, politicized the military and disparaged our veterans, prioritized his personal interest above American interests, and betrayed our values, democracy, and this country’s founding documents. In our view, by inciting the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and defending those who committed it, he has violated his oath of office and brought danger to our country. As former Vice President [Mike Pence] has said “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

Donald Trump’s susceptibility to flattery and manipulation by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, unusual affinity for other authoritarian leaders, contempt for the norms of decent, ethical and lawful behavior, and chaotic national security decision-making are dangerous qualities – as many honorable Republican colleagues and military officers who served in senior national security positions in his administration have frequently testified. He is unfit to serve again as President, or indeed in any office of public trust.

The letter closed with the following warning and cited the oath of office taken by U.S. Senators: “Donald Trump cannot be trusted ‘to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic … and bear true faith and allegiance to the same.’ We believe that Kamala Harris can, and we urge other Americans to join us in supporting her.”

Among the signatories are (per The New York Times) “two former defense secretaries, Chuck Hagel and William S. Cohen; Robert B. Zoellick, a former president of the World Bank; the former C.I.A. directors Michael V. Hayden and William H. Webster; a former director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte; and former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts. Miles Taylor and Olivia Troye, two Trump administration officials who became vocal critics, also signed.”

The Times also noted some names who did not provide a similar endorsement for President Joe Biden in 2020 but endorsed Harris now: former House members Charles W. Boustany Jr., Barbara Comstock, Dan Miller, and Bill Paxon.

Read the full open letter here.