Former Defense Secretary James Mattis
He called Trump “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people.”
“We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children,” he wrote.
“We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution,” his statement said.
Former Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer
Spencer called Trump’s intervention in the war crimes case “shocking and unprecedented.”
“It was also a reminder that the President has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices,” he wrote.
Former White House national security adviser John Bolton
In a draft manuscript of his book, Bolton wrote that Trump directed him to help with his pressure campaign in Ukraine to dig up dirt on Democrats. The manuscript also reportedly claimed that Trump directed Bolton to set up a meeting between the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Former White House chief of staff John Kelly
Kelly has said he believes Bolton’s accusation – that Trump told Bolton US security aid to Ukraine was conditioned on an investigation of the President’s political rivals.
“If John Bolton says that in the book I believe John Bolton,” Kelly said.
Kelly has also said that Trump would not be in the middle of an impeachment process if he were still chief of staff and that he advised Trump not to hire a yes man to replace him.
“I said, whatever you do – and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place – I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth – don’t do that,” Kelly said at the time. “Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached.
On Friday, Kelly said he agreed with Mattis about Trump’s handling of demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s death.
“There is a concern, I think an awful big concern, that the partisanship has gotten out of hand, the tribal thing has gotten out of hand,” Kelly said. “He’s quite a man, Jim Mattis, and for him to do that tells you where he is relative to the concern he has for our country.”
Kelly also said he would have cautioned Trump against the idea of using law enforcement to clear Lafayette Square ahead of his photo-op outside of St. John’s Church.
“I would’ve argued against it, recommended against it,” Kelly said. “I would argue that the end result of that was predictable.”
Cliff Sims, former special assistant to the President and director of White House Message Strategy
Sims wrote “Team of Vipers,” claiming, among other things, that Trump created an “enemies list” consisting of members of his own administration.
In early 2019, after the book was published, Sims sued Trump and sought an injunction against the nondisclosure agreements Trump had him agree to when he worked at the White House.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, former director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison
“Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness,” she wrote in her book.
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci
“For the last 3 years I have fully supported this President,” Scaramucci tweeted in September 2019. “Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100% litmus test. Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country.”
A month earlier, Scaramucci had called Trump’s attacks on four minority congresswomen “racist and unacceptable.”
He no longer supports Trump’s reelection bid.
Gary Cohn, former National Economic Council director
“We had an interesting nucleus of people when I was in the White House – the initial team. We were not bashful. It was a group that was willing to tell the President what he needed to know, whether he wanted to hear it or not,” Cohn told CNN’s David Axelrod in an interview on “The Axe Files” podcast. “None of us are there any more. So I am concerned that the atmosphere in the White House is no longer conducive, or no one has the personality to stand up and tell the President what he doesn’t want to hear,” he said.
Former White House counsel Ty Cobb
After leaving the White House, he said he did not think the special counsel’s probe was a “witch hunt.”
“Bob Mueller is an American hero in my view,” Cobb also said, noting Mueller’s service as a Marine.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley
Haley said the President’s decision to remove US troops from northern Syria during Turkey’s plans to launch a military offensive in the region would equate to the US leaving its Kurdish allies “to die.”
And after Trump tweeted: “Really bad news! The Baltimore house of Elijah Cummings was robbed. Too bad!” Haley replied: “This is so unnecessary.”
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Sessions has maintained that he supports the President’s political agenda, but after Trump endorsed his Senate primary opponent and slammed Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, Sessions tried to defend himself.
“Look, I know your anger, but recusal was required by law. I did my duty & you’re damn fortunate I did. It protected the rule of law & resulted in your exoneration,” Sessions tweeted. “Your personal feelings don’t dictate who Alabama picks as their senator, the people of Alabama do.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/politics/officials-who-criticized-donald-trump/index.html