More than 700 national security officials endorse Harris for US president
Kyiv • UNN
More than 700 national security and military officials have endorsed Kamala Harris for president of the United States. In the letter, they criticize Trump and emphasize the importance of protecting democracy.
More than 700 representatives of national security and military agencies have endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democratic presidential candidate. Their joint letter says that the vice president “defends America's democratic ideals,” while former President Donald Trump “jeopardizes them.” Axios writes about it, UNN reports.
Details
As noted, a few days earlier, more than 100 Republican national security leaders endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate, including nine employees who worked in the Trump White House.
Several polls show Harris ahead of Trump, including a Sunday NBC News poll that shows the Democrat leading the Republican nationally 49% to 44%. A Washington Post poll also shows that Harris has a slight advantage in four “contested” states.
“The contrast with Mr. Trump is clear: where Vice President Harris is prepared and strategic, he is impulsive and ill-informed,” reads the letter, which was signed by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served in the Obama administration, and retired Navy Rear Admiral Michael Smith.
The letter criticizes Trump for praising “enemy dictators,” including China's Xi Jinping, North Korea's Kim Jong-un, and Russia's Vladimir Putin, “as well as Hezbollah terrorist leaders,” while denigrating the United States.
The statement said that Trump “threatens our democratic system” by calling for the “suspension of certain parts of the US Constitution” and added that his comments that he could become a dictator for a day were not encouraging.
Trump has “undermined faith in our elections by repeating unsubstantiated lies about ‘millions’ of fraudulent votes,” the letter says.
“He has shown no remorse in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 elections on January 6, promises to pardon convicted criminals, and has made it clear that he will not respect the results of the 2024 elections if he loses again,” the letter adds.
“First, we believe that America's national security requires a serious and capable commander-in-chief. Second, we believe that American democracy is priceless. Every generation has a responsibility to protect it. That is why we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States,” the document adds.
“Our support for Vice President Harris is an endorsement of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals, competence, and unrelenting optimism for America's future.
In turn, Trump campaign communications director Stephen Cheung said in a statement that those who supported Harris “are the same people who have dragged our country into endless foreign wars and profited from them while the American people suffered.
He added that Trump is “the only president in the modern era who has not dragged our country into a single new war.
