Former Trump administration officials backed up former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s stark warnings against Donald Trump and a "fascist" second term.
“This is who Donald Trump is,” read the letter shared by Politico on Friday. “The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking. But because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say.”
The letter was signed by former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, former senior counselor to Kelly Kevin Carroll, former assistant secretary of homeland security Elizabeth Neumann, and 10 other Trump administration officials.
Kelly alleged in a series of interviews in a series of interviews with the Atlantic and the New York Times published this week that Trump had repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and wished he had "the kind of generals" that served under the leader of Nazi Germany.
The officials warned voters to heed Kelly’s warning, explaining that they were coming out to defend his allegations because they saw Trump act in similar ways.
“We applaud General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term. Like General Kelly, we did not take the decision to come forward lightly,” they wrote. “We are all lifelong Republicans who served our country. However, there are moments in history where it becomes necessary to put country over party. This is one of those moments.”
Trump fired back at Kelly’s testimony on Wednesday, calling former chief of staff a “total degenerate” and “lowlife” in a Truth Social post denying some of his allegations.
“The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told,” Trump said.
Dozens of Trump officials have come out against the ex-president in recent days. Trump's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley called Trump "fascist to the core and Trump's Vice President Mike Pence said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse his one-time partner.
