Over 50 Republican former U.S. national security officials join Biden endorsement
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 50 Republican former national security officials will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday, joining one of several Republican organizations opposing the re-election of President Donald Trump.
The group, called Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden, launched in August with 70 members. The new endorsements will bring it to nearly 130 individuals who have publicly broken with the Republican president, including seven who served under Trump, people familiar with the effort said.
Others worked as senior defense and security officials in the administrations of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, also endorsed Biden on Thursday during an interview with MSNBC.
McChrystal, who resigned in 2010 after a Rolling Stone article quoted him making unflattering remarks about Biden and other civilian officials, said he always respected Biden and the incident was “more smoke than fire.”
“We have to believe in our values. You have to believe that your commander in chief, at the end of the day, is someone that you can trust, and I can trust Joe Biden,” he said.
The 56 new people in the group endorsing Biden include Greg Brower, a former FBI assistant director; Larry Pfeiffer, a former CIA chief of staff; and Alden Munson, former deputy director of National Intelligence.
The group will start running full-page newspaper ads on Thursday in seven competitive states that will help decide the Nov. 3 election: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas, a person involved in the effort said.
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