WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former senior Trump administration official said Monday that the United States is “less secure” under the Republican president because he endorsed Democratic challenger Joe Biden for the November election.
PHOTO PHOTO: US President Donald Trump arrives to address a briefing on the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease pandemic at the White House in Washington, DC, August 13, 2020. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque
Miles Taylor, who served in the Department of Homeland Security between 2017 and 2019, including as chief of staff, said he “witnessed the damning first-hand results” of what he called President Donald Trump’s “personal shortcomings.”
“I can attest that the country is less secure as a direct result of the president’s actions,” Taylor wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on the day Democrats debated a virtual convention to Bid to nominate.
“Today, the nation has fewer friends and stronger enemies than when Trump took office.”
In a statement to Reuters, White House President Judd Deere Taylor mentioned “another creature from the DC swamp who never understood the importance of the president’s agenda, or why the American people elected and clearly just wants to be appreciated. ”
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taylor is one of the most senior former Trump officials to endorse Biden, the former vice president who has a solid lead in most opinion polls for the Nov. 3 election. He called the Trump presidency “dangerously chaotic.”
“Even though I’m not a Democrat, although I do not agree on major issues, I’m sure Joe Biden will protect the country and I’m sure he’s not making the same mistakes as this president,” Taylor said in an ad to support Biden, which was released Monday by Republican voters against Trump, an anti-Trump advocacy group.
Trump’s “invalid and often absurd executive demands” meant that DHS employees were regularly removed from dealing with real security concerns, Taylor said in his op-ed.
“One morning it may be a question of saving congressional money to close money off for a foreign ally who was angry with him, and that evening it may be a request to sharpen the spikes on the border wall so that they can more human flesh damage, ”Taylor wrote.
Report by Moira Warburton; Edited by Mary Milliken and Dan Grebler
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