A dozen individuals who served as lawyers in Republican presidential administrations are bucking Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and endorsing Democratic presidential pick Kamala Harris in a new letter that was publicized first at Fox News. The list includes prominent former judge J. Michael Luttig, who also served in the Reagan Administration.
The signatories served with Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush — the most recent three Republican presidents, besides Trump himself. And in the missive, they characterized Trump as flatly unfit for the nation’s top job and communicated that they felt it was important to also back Harris rather than just distancing themselves from Trump.
The letter said its signers “urge all patriotic Republicans, former Republicans, conservative and center-right citizens, and independent voters to place love of country above party and ideology and join us in supporting Kamala Harris.”
“We cannot go along with other former Republican officials who have condemned Trump with these devastating judgments but are still not willing to vote for Harris,” the group added, per Fox. “We believe this election presents a binary choice, and Trump is utterly disqualified.” They also deemed Trump “guilty of grave wrongdoing to our Constitution” and “unfit, dangerous, and detached from reality.”
Though this display of conservative support for Harris came after the conclusion of Democrats’ national convention this week in Chicago, that Democratic gathering also heard from prominent Republicans expressing support for the Democratic contender. That list includes former Congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, plus former Trump officials.
Harris herself spoke on Thursday. The convention’s list of speakers was wide-ranging, also including former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, current President Joe Biden, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and a host of others. Biden reaffirmed his support for Harris following his own withdrawal from this year’s presidential election back in July, dashing the always detached imaginings from Trump of some scenario at the convention where Biden tried to get back the nomination from Harris after all.
