Over 700 national security officials endorse Harris for president
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, earlier this month. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Over 700 national security and military officials endorsed Kamala Harris for president Sunday in a letter that said the vice president "defends America's democratic ideals" while former President Trump "endangers" them.
The big picture: The latest boost for Harris' campaign comes days after more than 100 Republican national security leaders endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee for president, including nine staffers who served in the Trump White House.
- Several polls show Harris pulling ahead of Trump, including an NBC News survey out Sunday showing the Democrat leading the Republican nationally 49% to 44% and a Washington Post one showing her with a slight lead in four battleground states.
Driving the news: Former secretaries of state and defense, ex-ambassadors and retired generals were among those to sign onto the letter, organized by the group National Security Leaders for America.
- "The contrast with Mr. Trump is clear: where Vice President Harris is prepared and strategic, he is impulsive and ill-informed," per the letter, which features signatories including former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served in the Obama administration, and retired Navy Rear Adm. Michael Smith
- The letter criticizes Trump for praising "adversarial dictators" including China's Xi Jinping, North Korea's Kim Jung-un, and Russia's Vladimir Putin, "as well as the terrorist leaders of Hezbollah," while denegrating the U.S.
- It said Trump "threatens our democratic system" by calling for the "termination" of parts of the U.S. Constitution and added that his comments about being a dictator for a day were not reassuring.
- Trump "has undermined faith in our elections by repeating lies, without evidence, of 'millions' of fraudulent votes," per the letter.
- "He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again," it added.
- "That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief."
The bottom line: "We do not agree on everything, but we all adhere to two fundamental principles," the letter said.
- "First, we believe America's national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. Second, we believe American democracy is invaluable. Each generation has a responsibility to defend it. That is why we, the undersigned, proudly endorse Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States," it added.
- "Our endorsement of Vice President Harris is an endorsement of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals, of competence, and of relentless optimism in America's future."
The other side: Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in an emailed statement that those who endorsed Harris "are the same people who got our country into endless foreign wars and profited off of them while the American people suffered."
- He added that Trump "is the only President in the modern era not to get our country into any new wars."
