High-ranking ex-Trump official endorses Joe Biden, saying US ‘less secure’ due to president’s actions
- Trump made ‘absurd requests’, such as wanting spikes on border wall to be sharpened, says Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at Department of Homeland Security
- This meant staff were regularly taken away from dealing with genuine security concerns
A former high-ranking Trump administration official said on Monday the United States is “less secure” under the Republican president as he endorsed Democratic challenger Joe Biden for November’s election.
Miles Taylor, who served at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) between 2017 and 2019, including as chief of staff, said he “witnessed the damning results first-hand” of what he called President Donald Trump’s “personal deficiencies”.
“I can attest that the country is less secure as a direct result of the president’s actions,” Taylor wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on the day the Democrats kick off a four-day virtual convention to nominate Biden.
“Today the nation has fewer friends and stronger enemies than when Trump took office.”
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere called Taylor “another creature of the D.C. Swamp who never understood the importance of the president’s agenda or why the American people elected him and clearly just wants to cash in.”