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Now or Never for Ex-Trump Aides to Talk09/26 09:00
With just weeks left before the Nov. 3 election, now is the moment of truth
for current and former Trump administration officials debating whether they,
too, should step forward and join the chorus of Republican voices trying to
persuade on-the-fence voters to help deny Trump a second term.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Elizabeth Neumann wrestled with the decision for weeks.
She worried about the backlash, the impact it would have on her career,
potential threats to her family.
But the former Department of Homeland Security official, who had resigned in
April, reached a breaking point after President Donald Trump deployed Homeland
Security agents to Portland, exacerbating tensions there. She decided it was
worth the risk to speak out against Trump, whom she had come to view as a
threat to the country.
"Enough is enough," said Neumann, the former assistant secretary of
counterterrorism and threat prevention. "People need to understand how
dangerous a moment we are in."
There are plenty of others weighing the same decision.
With just weeks left before the Nov. 3 election, now is the moment of truth
for current and former Trump administration officials debating whether they,
too, should step forward and join the chorus of Republican voices trying to
persuade on-the-fence voters to help deny Trump a second term.
"It's now or never," said Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at DHS, who
has been working to recruit others to join the effort. In interviews, Taylor
has accused Trump of routinely asking aides to break the law, using his former
agency for explicitly political purposes, and wanting to maim and shoot
migrants trying to cross the southern border.
"Those who witnessed the president's unfitness for office up close have a
moral obligation to share their assessment with the electorate," said Taylor,
who launched the group REPAIR --- The Republican Political Alliance for
Integrity and Reform --- to bring together concerned former officials.
A related group, Republican Voters Against Trump, has compiled nearly 1,000
video testimonials from Republicans across the country who want Trump out.
Strategic director Sarah Longwell said her goal was to provide a "permission
structure" to help wavering Republicans feel comfortable opposing Trump.
The effort, she said, grew out of research on "soft" Trump voters.
"While these voters disliked Trump intensely, they didn't trust the media,
they didn't trust Democrats, they didn't trust the leaks," she said. "Who's a
credible messenger? It was people like them."
Other prominent "formers" have spoken out independently --- or are
considering it.
Former national security adviser John Bolton wrote a scathing book in which
he said Trump "saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly
uninformed" on how to run the government. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
broke a self-imposed vow of silence in June with an op-ed slamming Trump's
response to racial justice protests. He and former director of national
intelligence Dan Coats also were quoted extensively in a new book by journalist
Bob Woodward calling Trump dangerous and unfit for office.
But Mattis and Coats, like former White House chief of staff John Kelly and
former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, have refrained from more
explicit condemnations, often citing a "duty of silence" or a long tradition of
military officials staying out of politics, according to people who've spoken
with them.
Efforts to draw them out are ongoing. While former Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen appears disinclined to step forward, there are hopes
that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might be persuaded to comment and
that Coats might be urged to say more. And Kelly, a retired four-star general,
is said to be on the fence and torn about the decision.
"I think that he loves his country and he wants to do what's best for the
country," said Neumann, who served as Kelly's deputy chief of staff at DHS and
is hopeful he'll speak out, even as others don't think it will happen.
Officials like Kelly, with long careers and hefty pensions, would seem to
have less to lose by doing so than more junior staffers like Olivia Troye, a
former counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who last week
joined the campaign against Trump and said she'd be voting for Biden.
In a video and interviews, Troye has accused Trump of mishandling the
coronavirus and being more concerned about his reelection prospects than saving
lives. The White House punched back with an aggressive attack campaign aimed at
discrediting her through a barrage of statements, interviews and denunciations
from the lectern in the White House briefing room.
"These are not profiles in courage, but these are profiles in cowardice,"
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said of Troye and Taylor,
dismissing them as part of a "fringe club of, quote, 'Never Trumpers' who are
desperate for relevancy."
Taylor said it was clear the White House was "coming after" those who speak
out as a warning to others who are considering doing likewise.
"The White House knows if they show this is a very costly thing to do they
will scare people from going forward," he said.
He added that while more people are still considering coming forward, the
White House tactics have worked to some extent --- dissuading one senior
official who had been on the cusp of speaking out.
Rick Wilson, a longtime Republican strategist who co-founded the anti-Trump
Lincoln Project, stressed that time is running out.
"There will be a cottage industry when Trump is out of office of people who
say, 'Oh, I fought from the inside, I fought the good fight, I kept so many bad
things from happening.'" he said. "It doesn't matter. There's only one moment
in time where it matters. And that's now."
For Neumann, who describes herself as a conservative Christian and voted for
Trump in 2016, the considerations were deeply personal, including what it might
mean for her career in a city that puts a premium on loyalty.
"This is a town based on relationships," she said. "And what we have done
is, you know, usually not done in this town. Usually you stab people in the
back and do it quietly. You do it as an anonymous source. You don't actually
put your name to it."
Neumann is still out of work and notes that many companies fear making hires
that might seem political. But she still said she's been pleasantly surprised
by the response overall.
"It was more positive than I expected," she said, adding, "No serious
threats, haven't had to call the police or anything, so that's good."
Anthony Scaramucci, who turned against the president last year after a short
stint as White House communications director, has also been in discussions with
those on the fence and is using every channel he can find to spread his
message, including a new anti-Trump documentary.
"We have to keep the pressure on, and so for me it's a multimedia approach.
It's radio, it's podcasts, it's Twitter, it's television and it's movies," he
said. "As a citizen all I've tried to do is provide a surgeon general's
warning. ... This guy is a threat to the institutions of democracy, and I
worked for him and I think it's important to send a signal to other people," he
said, that it's OK to speak out.
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