Donald Trump received some bad news Thursday. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton it could also be bad news for her.
A group of 30 former Republican members of Congress said they will not vote for Trump, including half who had not previously announced their opposition to him. But that doesn’t mean they are voting for Clinton.
Some will vote for her but others will vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, will write in a name or will stay home on Election Day.
“We are proud of our service in the United States Congress and proud that we served in that role as Republicans,” the former leaders wrote in a statement. “It is in that spirit that, as Donald Trump’s unfitness for public office has become ever more apparent, we urge our fellow Republicans not to vote for this man whose disgraceful candidacy is indefensible. This is no longer about our party; it’s now about America. We may differ on how we will cast our ballots in November but none of us will vote for Donald Trump.”
The statement was circulated by former Oklahoma Rep. Mickey Edwards and former Missouri Rep. Tom Coleman. It’s the largest group of former GOP elected officials to come out against Trump, and includes four swing-state leaders who served an average of more than 12 terms: Bill Clinger of Pennsylvania, Jim Leach of Iowa, Tom Petri of Wisconsin, and G. William Whitehurst of Virginia. Clinger was chair of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee that investigated Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Filegate and Travelgate scandals.
The Trump campaign fired back.
“It’s no surprise that these insiders who helped create our $20 trillion in debt – yet clutch their gold-plated congressional pensions not available to most Americans – are desperate to keep things exactly the way they are, and rightly acknowledge that Donald J. Trump is going to break up the rigged system and return power to the people outside of Washington,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said.
Anita Kumar: 202-383-6017, @anitakumar01
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