Colin Powell, secretary of state under George W. Bush, endorses Joe Biden over Donald Trump

Powell also led the US military during the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq under George H.W. Bush

‘I cannot in any way support President Trump this year,’ said Powell, who did not vote for the Republican president in 2016

Reading Time:1 minute

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:57pm, 7 Jun 2020Updated: 7:12am, 17 Oct 2020

Former secretary of state Colin Powell on Sunday endorsed Democratic former US vice-president Joe Biden, becoming the first major Republican to publicly back Donald Trump’s rival ahead of November’s election.

Powell, who led the US military during the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq under Republican former President George H.W. Bush and later led the Department of State under President George W. Bush, said Trump has “drifted away” from the US Constitution and posed a danger the country and its democracy.

“I cannot in any way support President Trump this year,” Powell, who did not vote for the Republican president in 2016, told CNN.

Asked if he would vote for Biden, he added: “I will be voting for him.”

Trump, who has been critical of the Iraq war, in a tweet called Powell “a real stiff”.

Powell is the latest former top military officer to rebuke Trump in the wake of sweeping mass protests aimed at fighting racial injustice spurred by the May 25 death of an unarmed black man in Minnesota.

Former defence secretary James Mattis and other retired officers have condemned Trump in recent days in a rare rebuke with few precedents in US history.