Here is How people that Know Trump First-Hand Feel About Him. And Every SIngle One of Them Is a Republican that Trump Hired
“Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”
John Kelly
Chief of staff, said in a recent interview, recalling when Mr. Trump praised the loyalty shown by German generals.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”
James Mattis
Secretary of defense
“Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage if he is elected in a second term.”
John Bolton
National security adviser
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath and I always will. I’m running for president in part because I think that anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
Mike Pence
Vice president
“Trump lacked basic knowledge of how the government runs, and his impatience with learning about the roles of his senior officials and about alternative models for decision-making limited his ability to lead. When there was conflict, he avoided it or, at times, stoked it.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track.”
John Bolton
National security adviser
“Trump was caught in a vortex created by the interaction of those narratives with the fragility of his ego and his deep sense of aggrievement.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director, said after Mr. Trump fired him from his job
“So many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“He thought I would be loyal and obedient to him. I told him we were loyal to our oath to the Constitution. If he told you to slit someone’s throat, he thought you would go out and do it.”
John Kelly
White House chief of staff
“The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
Richard Spencer
Secretary of the Navy
“He acts on his instincts. In some respects, that looks like impulsiveness, but it’s not his intent to act on impulse. I think he really is trying to act on his instincts.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“He’s getting meaner and more offensive by the day. He’s trying to bully me and anyone who supports me.”
Nikki Haley
U.N. ambassador, said while she was running against Mr. Trump for the Republican nomination
“A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
John Kelly
White House chief of staff
“This is beyond wrong and illegal. It’s un-American. The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months.”
Tom Bossert
Homeland security adviser, said after the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6
“I’ve never seen a defendant beg for it more. By attacking the judge, attacking the jury, attacking the witnesses.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director, said when asked if Mr. Trump would be sentenced to jail time after being convicted of falsifying business records.
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump.”
James Mattis
Secretary of defense
“I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country.”
Mark Esper
Secretary of defense
“The facts, however, are clear that he is unfit to be President. If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse, dismaying many ardent supporters.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director
“I wished that Trump could separate the issue of Russian election meddling from the legitimacy of his presidency. He could have said, ‘Yes, they attacked the election. But Russia doesn’t care who wins our elections. What they want is to pit Americans against one another and reduce our confidence in our democratic institutions and processes.’ He might also have pointed out that those who fed the ‘not my president’ and Russia collusion narratives were doing Putin’s work for him. But Trump was caught in a vortex created by the interaction of those narratives with the fragility of his ego and his deep sense of aggrievement.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president. Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“He makes up what he wants to say at any given time. It’s another demonstration of how little of American history he knows. Whatever he did know he has disregarded.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“Imagine if a foreign agent, another country were to discover documents that outline America’s vulnerabilities or the weaknesses of the United States military. Think about how that could be exploited, how that could be used against us in a conflict, how an enemy could develop countermeasures, things like that. Or in the case of the most significant piece that was raised in the allegation about U.S. plans to attack Iran, think about how that affects our readiness, our ability to prosecute an attack. I mean, it’s just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation’s security at risk. You cannot have these documents floating around.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“If the allegations are true, and there’s lots of indications they are, President Trump had classified documents where he shouldn’t have had them, and then when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that. … That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and if the allegations are true, some of these were pretty serious, important documents.”
— Mike Pompeo, secretary of state
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again. ”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“I think the other challenge that I came to realize early on is there were so many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact. So then you spent an inordinate amount of time working through why that’s not true, working through why that’s not factual, working through why that’s not the basis on which you want to understand this, you need to set that aside, let’s talk about what’s real. I think that was as big a challenge as anything.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“I just was not comfortable with the lies being told. And I think that they’re insidious. I think it’s why so many people now believe the election was stolen and it fundamentally undercut our institutions. And by the way, he would absolutely do it again if he loses to Biden this time. The notion that he’s going to concede is absolutely absurd.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie, and it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest, knowing what I’ve been hearing down the hall and the conversations that were happening. Seeing that tweet come up and knowing what was happening on the Hill, and it’s something that I — it’s still — I still struggle to work through the emotions of that.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to chief of staff
“I am ashamed of my weakness and misplaced loyalty — of the things I did for Mr. Trump in an effort to protect and promote him. I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”
— Michael Cohen, personal lawyer
“In September 2019, the president issued a veiled threat against an intelligence community employee who reported the president for inappropriately coaxing a foreign government to investigate one of his political opponents. Trump said the employee was ‘close to a spy.’ He continued, ‘You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.’ The implicit suggestion was that the whistleblower should be hanged. Such behavior is unbecoming of a president and the presidency. To anyone with even a modest reverence for the principle of free speech, it is also morally wrong. The nation’s chief executive should never under any circumstances use his office and its extraordinary powers to seek revenge against whistleblowers and political opponents. These are actions we would expect from tin-pot dictators in repressive countries and which we would openly decry as a nation. Yet it is happening in real time here at home, setting a chilling precedent for the use of executive authority.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders, and ultimately, our democratic process. Now he’s doing it again, lying and laying the groundwork to undermine this election. It’s his M.O. — just sow doubt and division. That’s what Trump wants, because it’s the only way he wins. And that’s what our foreign adversaries want, because it’s the only way they win. … Being inside Trump’s White House was terrifying, but what keeps me up at night is what will happen if he gets back there. The guardrails are gone, the few adults in the room the first time resigned or were fired.”
— Olivia Troye, aide to the vice president
“I saw him when the cameras were off, behind closed doors. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. He was mad that the cameras were not watching him. He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie — say it enough and people will believe you.’ But it does matter — what you say matters, and what you don’t say matters.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“This is beyond wrong and illegal. It’s un-American. The president undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace. Despite of him, not because of him, police will regain control and prosecute those involved.”
— Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser
“I don’t know. It seems unlikely. But I’ve never seen a defendant beg for it more. By attacking the judge, attacking the jury, attacking the witnesses. One of the key things in assessing what sentence is appropriate, a judge looks at, ‘So, are you sorry for what you did? Are you respecting the system?’ This defendant is running the other way.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“And yes, I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it, our institutions, our political culture, all those things that make America great and have defined us as, you know, the oldest democracy on this planet.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“Obviously, we are starkly different in our styles. We did not have a common value system. When the president would say, ‘Well, here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it,’ and I’d have to say to him, ‘Well, Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law. It violates a treaty.’ You know, he got really frustrated. I didn’t know how to conduct my affairs with him any other way than in a very straightforward fashion. And I think he grew tired of me being the guy every day that told him, ‘You can’t do that, and let’s talk about what we can do.’”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, 'I — I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take that effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away.'”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to the White House chief of staff
“President Donald Trump thrives on purposely sowing strife and discord. I have seen it up close and in person. He does so at the expense of the nation’s interests, the health and prosperity of our fellow citizens, alliances forged through generations of sacrifice, and the personal safety of public servants.”
— Josh Venable, chief of staff at the Department of Education
“Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving Black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness.”
— Omarosa Manigault Newman, White House aide
“Ultimately, Trump’s deficiencies in the disciplines of perception, action, and will produced a tragic ending to his presidency on January 6, 2021. His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“The rule of law must be vindicated regardless of the threat, which is why public servants at all levels around the country are soldiering on despite the torrent of individual abuse. Terrorists, gangsters and drug lords have long been held accountable in this country even when their organizations posed a serious risk of violence aimed at those who operate our legal system. Fortunately, that’s not what we face today. Trump and his legions are not coming for us. The rule of law is finally coming for him.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“He initially thought I would do it. He thought I would be loyal and obedient to him. I told him we were loyal to our oath to the Constitution. If he told you to slit someone’s throat, he thought you would go out and do it. I would say, ‘It’s inappropriate, it’s illegal, it’s against their integrity and the I.R.S. knows what it’s doing and it’s not a good idea.’”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“‘You are losers!’ the president railed. ‘You are all ****ing losers!’ This wasn’t the first time I had heard him use this language, but not with this much anger, and never directed at people in a room with him, let alone toward Barr, Milley, and me. He repeated the foul insults again, this time directing his venom at the vice president as well, who sat quietly, stone faced, in the chair at the far end of the semicircle closest to the Rose Garden. I never saw him yell at the vice president before, so this really caught my attention.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The next day, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called me and said the president would remain involved. Shortly thereafter, I received a second call from Cipollone, who said the president would order me to restore Gallagher to the rank of chief. This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review. It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
— Richard Spencer, secretary of the Navy
“He is wholly unfit to be in office. When the election lies started being shared, I couldn’t put my name to it. I couldn’t put my conscience to it. So I resigned. But I didn’t forcefully speak out until Jan. 6th, and I haven’t stopped since.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“I was stunned by violence, and was stunned by the president’s apparent indifference to the violence. … Now was the time for the President to be presidential. I thought he failed at doing it. I thought he failed at a critical time to be the sort of leader that the nation needed.”
— Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff
“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign. As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s efforts to force a sale of ByteDance’s TikTok.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more. But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“He didn’t like them telling him that things he wanted to do were unethical or illegal. So he’d scream at them. But then he’d usually listen. And then yell at them again later.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself. In fact, as history well shows from his divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation … Our adversaries and our allies both recognize that even his potential reelection diminishes America on the world stage and ensures continued acceleration of the domestic decline we are currently enduring. If that reelection actually happens, the consequences will extinguish what, if anything, remains of the American Dream.”
— Ty Cobb, White House lawyer
“Trump lacked basic knowledge of how the government runs, and his impatience with learning about the roles of his senior officials and about alternative models for decision-making limited his ability to lead. When there was conflict, he avoided it or, at times, stoked it.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“Facts are blunt instruments, and a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be president. In particular, he has no political philosophy, and does not have ‘policies’ as conventionally understood. Searching for policy coherence is fruitless, since he cares almost exclusively about his own interests, and refuses to take responsibility for decisions he makes that go awry.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“The problem now is he is not the same person he was in 2016. He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was, just like Joe Biden’s more diminished than what he was. We have to see this for what it is. This is a fact: He is now saying things that don’t make sense.”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“In no arena of American affairs has the Trump aberration been more destructive than in national security. His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track. Trump’s variability was the only constant. Nothing in his post-presidency indicates any prospect of more orderly decision-making ahead.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“I had never met Donald Trump until the day he asked me to be secretary of state. He acts on his instincts. In some respects, that looks like impulsiveness, but it’s not his intent to act on impulse. I think he really is trying to act on his instincts.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“He’s getting meaner and more offensive by the day. He’s trying to bully me and anyone who supports me, he says they will be barred from MAGA permanently.”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France. A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason — in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.”
— Mark Milley, chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“There was about six months that I was there that I genuinely bought into who Trump wants to be seen as. I genuinely had affection for him. I knew he was chaotic, but I thought that there might be a method to the madness. I wanted to believe in him and I started to.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“I remember hearing noise coming from down the hallway. So I poked my head out of the office. I saw the valet walking towards our office. He had said, ‘Get the chief down to the dining room. The President wants him.’ So Mark went down to the dining room, came back to the office a few minutes later. After Mark had returned, I left the office and went down to the dining room, and I noticed that the door was propped open and the valet was inside the dining room changing the tablecloth off of the dining room table. He motioned for me to come in and then pointed towards the front of the room near the fireplace mantel and the TV, where I first noticed there was ketchup dripping down the wall and there was a shattered porcelain plate on the floor. The valet had articulated that the president was extremely angry at the attorney general’s A.P. interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall, which was causing him to have to clean up. So I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off of the wall to help the valet out. And he said something to the effect of, ‘He’s really ticked off about this.’”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“Ultimately, the political chaos that became evident within the Trump administration overtook the ability to get the job done.”
— David Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs
“What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds. Just an unbelievable scene at the Capitol. Frankly, the president’s actions and words didn’t surprise me at all, but I was very, very surprised that those people would assault the people’s house, do the damage they did and embarrass us all.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“[Mr. Trump] does a curt greeting to everybody, and within a few minutes, he is on a tirade, yelling about this issue or that issue. ‘The allies are ripping us off. NATO’s terrible. The U.S. military’s a third-rate military. We can’t beat Afghanistan. How are you going be able to deal with the Chinese?’ … And this goes on for about 20 minutes, berating everybody in the room.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The truth was, as reckless as the president’s tweet was, I really didn’t have time for it. Rioters were ransacking the Capitol. … The president had decided to be part of the problem.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“When he liked you, when he was pleased with you, he overwhelmed you with charm and generosity and even affection. And when something set him off or someone else did, he’d start screaming. His temper was terrifying. And it could be directed at anyone, whether he or she deserved it or not.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The facts, however, are clear that he is unfit to be president. If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse, dismaying many ardent supporters. I hope what follows is a sufficient warning to America’s voters to help avoid our worst fears from coming true.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty. We are fortunate some ethical leaders have chosen to serve and to stay at senior levels of government, but they cannot prevent all of the damage from the forest fire that is the Trump presidency. Their task is to try to contain it.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s ‘better angels,’ and listen to them, as we work to unite.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“You are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people — and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people. The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people. … We’re all Americans. That under these colors of red, white, and blue — the colors that my parents fought for in World War II — means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.”
— Gen. Mark Milley, chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. … If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders, in both public and private sector … then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“When I saw what was happening on Jan. 6 and didn’t see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue. … I was thinking about the kids I was there to represent, and what they are seeing and what they are taking away from this — it was not defensible in any way.”
— Betsy DeVos, secretary of education
“But the fact of the matter is, he is a consummate narcissist, and he constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk. He will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. There’s no question about it. This is a perfect example of that. … He’s a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s, his personal gratification of his ego, but our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”
— Bill Barr, attorney general
“The counts that Donald Trump is currently facing — he is facing counts of obstructing the Constitution — to me that is disqualifying. Donald Trump should be disqualified from being the president of the United States — to me that’s not a question. We have to think: What would a second Trump term look like? Would these be the people that are running the government, the people that are currently facing indictments? Who would work for Donald Trump in the second term? That’s the question that we need to be asking or asking ourselves going into this election season.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“The president still lacks the guiding principles needed to govern our nation and fails to display the rudimentary qualities of leadership we should expect of any commander in chief.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“He had a capacity to find people’s weak spot, their vulnerability, and then turn it on them in an incredibly mean, savage, and often effective way. He thought that the worst thing you could be called was a loser or weak, so he deployed those words a lot. He thought that the way to get under the skin of people in the media was to claim that their ratings were bad. He questioned people’s confidence, their looks, their intelligence — whatever he thought would do the most damage to someone’s psyche.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.”
— John Kelly, Chief of staff
“Beyond the fundamental incompatibility of our personalities, the ‘three A's’ — allies, authoritarians and Afghanistan — became millstones that ground down my relationship with Trump. Trump had made a tough and, in my view, correct decision on Afghanistan, but when members of his political base objected to that decision, he blamed me. Strongmen like Putin and Erdogan had come to see me as an impediment to their agendas and portrayed me as sabotaging Trump’s relationship with them. I saw U.S. allies as bestowing tremendous advantages, while Trump tended to view them as freeloaders on U.S. security.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens, to past generations that bled to defend our promise, and to our children.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage if he is elected in a second term. He is not an existential threat to American democracy. If you really think that, you must think this country isn’t worth much. Because, we’ve gone 235 years with this Constitution. We’ve survived a lot worse than Donald Trump. And this kind of comment undercuts those who are trying to see Trump put in this place.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he’s said the things he’s said and done the things he’s done? It’s beyond my comprehension he has the support he has. I came out and told people the awful things he said about wounded soldiers, and it didn’t have half a day’s bounce. You had his attorney general Bill Barr come out, and not a half a day’s bounce. If anything, his numbers go up. It might even move the needle in the wrong direction. I think we’re in a dangerous zone in our country.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“I thought that we’re at a different spot now — he’s going to finally give a direct order to deploy paratroopers into the streets of Washington, D.C., and I’m thinking, with weapons and bayonets. This would be horrible. He says, 'Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?' And he’s suggesting that that’s what we should do, that we should bring in the troops and shoot the protesters in the streets of our nation’s capital.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“We are unique among the world’s militaries. We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America — and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
— Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
— John Kelly, Chief of staff
“It was when he put out this statement — ‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts’ — and our jaws dropped in the press shop, even people who are still with him today. And, I went in several times to his dining room off the oval and was like, sir, you have to walk this back. And I even tried to coach him through. I was like you could suggest that what you meant to say is looting ultimately leads to violence. We don’t want violence. We want peace. And he said that’s not what I meant. And it was in that moment that I was like he doesn’t have this ability and the character to rise to leadership when it calls for it.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now,’ to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.’ ”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened. It seems cause and effect. The question is, did he know he was enraging people to do that? I don’t know.”
— Chris Miller, acting secretary of defense
“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking, and it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside. And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy. I came as an immigrant to this country. I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so, it was a decision that I made on my own.”
— Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation
“President Trump was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election. … The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath and I always will. I’m running for president in part because I think that anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making. Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“I do think that he poses a threat to democracy. I think that January 6 showed that and that’s part of my reason for resigning. He failed to act that day. He had every opportunity to call off the mob and condemn the violence.”
— Sarah Matthews, deputy press secretary
“I am terrified of him running for president in 2024. I don’t think he is fit for the job.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press
“Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’”
John Kelly
Chief of staff, said in a recent interview, recalling when Mr. Trump praised the loyalty shown by German generals.
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”
James Mattis
Secretary of defense
“Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage if he is elected in a second term.”
John Bolton
National security adviser
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath and I always will. I’m running for president in part because I think that anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
Mike Pence
Vice president
“Trump lacked basic knowledge of how the government runs, and his impatience with learning about the roles of his senior officials and about alternative models for decision-making limited his ability to lead. When there was conflict, he avoided it or, at times, stoked it.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track.”
John Bolton
National security adviser
“Trump was caught in a vortex created by the interaction of those narratives with the fragility of his ego and his deep sense of aggrievement.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director, said after Mr. Trump fired him from his job
“So many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“He thought I would be loyal and obedient to him. I told him we were loyal to our oath to the Constitution. If he told you to slit someone’s throat, he thought you would go out and do it.”
John Kelly
White House chief of staff
“The president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
Richard Spencer
Secretary of the Navy
“He acts on his instincts. In some respects, that looks like impulsiveness, but it’s not his intent to act on impulse. I think he really is trying to act on his instincts.”
Rex Tillerson
Secretary of state
“He’s getting meaner and more offensive by the day. He’s trying to bully me and anyone who supports me.”
Nikki Haley
U.N. ambassador, said while she was running against Mr. Trump for the Republican nomination
“A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
John Kelly
White House chief of staff
“This is beyond wrong and illegal. It’s un-American. The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months.”
Tom Bossert
Homeland security adviser, said after the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6
“I’ve never seen a defendant beg for it more. By attacking the judge, attacking the jury, attacking the witnesses.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director, said when asked if Mr. Trump would be sentenced to jail time after being convicted of falsifying business records.
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump.”
James Mattis
Secretary of defense
“I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country.”
Mark Esper
Secretary of defense
“The facts, however, are clear that he is unfit to be President. If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse, dismaying many ardent supporters.”
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
National security adviser
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty.”
James Comey
F.B.I. director
“I wished that Trump could separate the issue of Russian election meddling from the legitimacy of his presidency. He could have said, ‘Yes, they attacked the election. But Russia doesn’t care who wins our elections. What they want is to pit Americans against one another and reduce our confidence in our democratic institutions and processes.’ He might also have pointed out that those who fed the ‘not my president’ and Russia collusion narratives were doing Putin’s work for him. But Trump was caught in a vortex created by the interaction of those narratives with the fragility of his ego and his deep sense of aggrievement.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president. Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“He makes up what he wants to say at any given time. It’s another demonstration of how little of American history he knows. Whatever he did know he has disregarded.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“Imagine if a foreign agent, another country were to discover documents that outline America’s vulnerabilities or the weaknesses of the United States military. Think about how that could be exploited, how that could be used against us in a conflict, how an enemy could develop countermeasures, things like that. Or in the case of the most significant piece that was raised in the allegation about U.S. plans to attack Iran, think about how that affects our readiness, our ability to prosecute an attack. I mean, it’s just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation’s security at risk. You cannot have these documents floating around.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“If the allegations are true, and there’s lots of indications they are, President Trump had classified documents where he shouldn’t have had them, and then when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that. … That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and if the allegations are true, some of these were pretty serious, important documents.”
— Mike Pompeo, secretary of state
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again. ”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“I think the other challenge that I came to realize early on is there were so many people who had access to his ear who were telling him things, most of which were untrue, and then he began to listen to those voices and form a view that had no basis in fact. So then you spent an inordinate amount of time working through why that’s not true, working through why that’s not factual, working through why that’s not the basis on which you want to understand this, you need to set that aside, let’s talk about what’s real. I think that was as big a challenge as anything.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“I just was not comfortable with the lies being told. And I think that they’re insidious. I think it’s why so many people now believe the election was stolen and it fundamentally undercut our institutions. And by the way, he would absolutely do it again if he loses to Biden this time. The notion that he’s going to concede is absolutely absurd.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie, and it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest, knowing what I’ve been hearing down the hall and the conversations that were happening. Seeing that tweet come up and knowing what was happening on the Hill, and it’s something that I — it’s still — I still struggle to work through the emotions of that.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to chief of staff
“I am ashamed of my weakness and misplaced loyalty — of the things I did for Mr. Trump in an effort to protect and promote him. I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”
— Michael Cohen, personal lawyer
“In September 2019, the president issued a veiled threat against an intelligence community employee who reported the president for inappropriately coaxing a foreign government to investigate one of his political opponents. Trump said the employee was ‘close to a spy.’ He continued, ‘You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.’ The implicit suggestion was that the whistleblower should be hanged. Such behavior is unbecoming of a president and the presidency. To anyone with even a modest reverence for the principle of free speech, it is also morally wrong. The nation’s chief executive should never under any circumstances use his office and its extraordinary powers to seek revenge against whistleblowers and political opponents. These are actions we would expect from tin-pot dictators in repressive countries and which we would openly decry as a nation. Yet it is happening in real time here at home, setting a chilling precedent for the use of executive authority.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders, and ultimately, our democratic process. Now he’s doing it again, lying and laying the groundwork to undermine this election. It’s his M.O. — just sow doubt and division. That’s what Trump wants, because it’s the only way he wins. And that’s what our foreign adversaries want, because it’s the only way they win. … Being inside Trump’s White House was terrifying, but what keeps me up at night is what will happen if he gets back there. The guardrails are gone, the few adults in the room the first time resigned or were fired.”
— Olivia Troye, aide to the vice president
“I saw him when the cameras were off, behind closed doors. Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. He was mad that the cameras were not watching him. He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie — say it enough and people will believe you.’ But it does matter — what you say matters, and what you don’t say matters.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“This is beyond wrong and illegal. It’s un-American. The president undermined American democracy baselessly for months. As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace. Despite of him, not because of him, police will regain control and prosecute those involved.”
— Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser
“I don’t know. It seems unlikely. But I’ve never seen a defendant beg for it more. By attacking the judge, attacking the jury, attacking the witnesses. One of the key things in assessing what sentence is appropriate, a judge looks at, ‘So, are you sorry for what you did? Are you respecting the system?’ This defendant is running the other way.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“And yes, I do regard him as a threat to democracy, democracy as we know it, our institutions, our political culture, all those things that make America great and have defined us as, you know, the oldest democracy on this planet.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“Obviously, we are starkly different in our styles. We did not have a common value system. When the president would say, ‘Well, here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it,’ and I’d have to say to him, ‘Well, Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law. It violates a treaty.’ You know, he got really frustrated. I didn’t know how to conduct my affairs with him any other way than in a very straightforward fashion. And I think he grew tired of me being the guy every day that told him, ‘You can’t do that, and let’s talk about what we can do.’”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, 'I — I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take that effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away.'”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to the White House chief of staff
“President Donald Trump thrives on purposely sowing strife and discord. I have seen it up close and in person. He does so at the expense of the nation’s interests, the health and prosperity of our fellow citizens, alliances forged through generations of sacrifice, and the personal safety of public servants.”
— Josh Venable, chief of staff at the Department of Education
“Donald Trump, who would attack civil rights icons and professional athletes, who would go after grieving Black widows, who would say there were good people on both sides, who endorsed an accused child molester; Donald Trump, and his decisions and his behavior, was harming the country. I could no longer be a part of this madness.”
— Omarosa Manigault Newman, White House aide
“Ultimately, Trump’s deficiencies in the disciplines of perception, action, and will produced a tragic ending to his presidency on January 6, 2021. His ego and love of self distorted his perception of the 2020 presidential election. His sense of betrayal drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“The rule of law must be vindicated regardless of the threat, which is why public servants at all levels around the country are soldiering on despite the torrent of individual abuse. Terrorists, gangsters and drug lords have long been held accountable in this country even when their organizations posed a serious risk of violence aimed at those who operate our legal system. Fortunately, that’s not what we face today. Trump and his legions are not coming for us. The rule of law is finally coming for him.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“He initially thought I would do it. He thought I would be loyal and obedient to him. I told him we were loyal to our oath to the Constitution. If he told you to slit someone’s throat, he thought you would go out and do it. I would say, ‘It’s inappropriate, it’s illegal, it’s against their integrity and the I.R.S. knows what it’s doing and it’s not a good idea.’”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“‘You are losers!’ the president railed. ‘You are all ****ing losers!’ This wasn’t the first time I had heard him use this language, but not with this much anger, and never directed at people in a room with him, let alone toward Barr, Milley, and me. He repeated the foul insults again, this time directing his venom at the vice president as well, who sat quietly, stone faced, in the chair at the far end of the semicircle closest to the Rose Garden. I never saw him yell at the vice president before, so this really caught my attention.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The next day, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called me and said the president would remain involved. Shortly thereafter, I received a second call from Cipollone, who said the president would order me to restore Gallagher to the rank of chief. This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review. It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”
— Richard Spencer, secretary of the Navy
“He is wholly unfit to be in office. When the election lies started being shared, I couldn’t put my name to it. I couldn’t put my conscience to it. So I resigned. But I didn’t forcefully speak out until Jan. 6th, and I haven’t stopped since.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“I think that Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“I was stunned by violence, and was stunned by the president’s apparent indifference to the violence. … Now was the time for the President to be presidential. I thought he failed at doing it. I thought he failed at a critical time to be the sort of leader that the nation needed.”
— Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff
“Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign. As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s efforts to force a sale of ByteDance’s TikTok.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more. But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“He didn’t like them telling him that things he wanted to do were unethical or illegal. So he’d scream at them. But then he’d usually listen. And then yell at them again later.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“He has never cared about America, its citizens, its future or anything but himself. In fact, as history well shows from his divisive lies, as well as from his unrestrained contempt for the rule of law and his related crimes, his conduct and mere existence have hastened the demise of democracy and of the nation … Our adversaries and our allies both recognize that even his potential reelection diminishes America on the world stage and ensures continued acceleration of the domestic decline we are currently enduring. If that reelection actually happens, the consequences will extinguish what, if anything, remains of the American Dream.”
— Ty Cobb, White House lawyer
“Trump lacked basic knowledge of how the government runs, and his impatience with learning about the roles of his senior officials and about alternative models for decision-making limited his ability to lead. When there was conflict, he avoided it or, at times, stoked it.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“Facts are blunt instruments, and a mountain of facts demonstrates that Trump is unfit to be president. In particular, he has no political philosophy, and does not have ‘policies’ as conventionally understood. Searching for policy coherence is fruitless, since he cares almost exclusively about his own interests, and refuses to take responsibility for decisions he makes that go awry.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“The problem now is he is not the same person he was in 2016. He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was, just like Joe Biden’s more diminished than what he was. We have to see this for what it is. This is a fact: He is now saying things that don’t make sense.”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“In no arena of American affairs has the Trump aberration been more destructive than in national security. His short attention span (except on matters of personal advantage) renders coherent foreign policy almost unattainable. The United States missed an incalculable number of opportunities in Trump’s first term because senior officials necessarily concentrated on keeping a few key policies on track. Trump’s variability was the only constant. Nothing in his post-presidency indicates any prospect of more orderly decision-making ahead.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“I had never met Donald Trump until the day he asked me to be secretary of state. He acts on his instincts. In some respects, that looks like impulsiveness, but it’s not his intent to act on impulse. I think he really is trying to act on his instincts.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“He’s getting meaner and more offensive by the day. He’s trying to bully me and anyone who supports me, he says they will be barred from MAGA permanently.”
— Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France. A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women. A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason — in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military. I thought that I could change that. I’ve come to the realization that I cannot, and I need to step aside and let someone else try to do that.”
— Mark Milley, chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“There was about six months that I was there that I genuinely bought into who Trump wants to be seen as. I genuinely had affection for him. I knew he was chaotic, but I thought that there might be a method to the madness. I wanted to believe in him and I started to.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“I remember hearing noise coming from down the hallway. So I poked my head out of the office. I saw the valet walking towards our office. He had said, ‘Get the chief down to the dining room. The President wants him.’ So Mark went down to the dining room, came back to the office a few minutes later. After Mark had returned, I left the office and went down to the dining room, and I noticed that the door was propped open and the valet was inside the dining room changing the tablecloth off of the dining room table. He motioned for me to come in and then pointed towards the front of the room near the fireplace mantel and the TV, where I first noticed there was ketchup dripping down the wall and there was a shattered porcelain plate on the floor. The valet had articulated that the president was extremely angry at the attorney general’s A.P. interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall, which was causing him to have to clean up. So I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off of the wall to help the valet out. And he said something to the effect of, ‘He’s really ticked off about this.’”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“Ultimately, the political chaos that became evident within the Trump administration overtook the ability to get the job done.”
— David Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs
“What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds. Just an unbelievable scene at the Capitol. Frankly, the president’s actions and words didn’t surprise me at all, but I was very, very surprised that those people would assault the people’s house, do the damage they did and embarrass us all.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“[Mr. Trump] does a curt greeting to everybody, and within a few minutes, he is on a tirade, yelling about this issue or that issue. ‘The allies are ripping us off. NATO’s terrible. The U.S. military’s a third-rate military. We can’t beat Afghanistan. How are you going be able to deal with the Chinese?’ … And this goes on for about 20 minutes, berating everybody in the room.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The truth was, as reckless as the president’s tweet was, I really didn’t have time for it. Rioters were ransacking the Capitol. … The president had decided to be part of the problem.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“When he liked you, when he was pleased with you, he overwhelmed you with charm and generosity and even affection. And when something set him off or someone else did, he’d start screaming. His temper was terrifying. And it could be directed at anyone, whether he or she deserved it or not.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“The facts, however, are clear that he is unfit to be president. If his first four years were bad, a second four will be worse, dismaying many ardent supporters. I hope what follows is a sufficient warning to America’s voters to help avoid our worst fears from coming true.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“This president is unethical, and untethered to truth and institutional values. His leadership is transactional, ego driven, and about personal loyalty. We are fortunate some ethical leaders have chosen to serve and to stay at senior levels of government, but they cannot prevent all of the damage from the forest fire that is the Trump presidency. Their task is to try to contain it.”
— James Comey, F.B.I. director
“We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s ‘better angels,’ and listen to them, as we work to unite.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“You are using the military to create fear in the minds of the people — and we are trying to protect the American people. I cannot stand idly by and participate in that attack, verbally or otherwise, on the American people. The American people trust their military and they trust us to protect them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and our military will do just that. We will not turn our back on the American people. … We’re all Americans. That under these colors of red, white, and blue — the colors that my parents fought for in World War II — means something around the world. It’s obvious to me that you don’t think of those colors the same way I do. It’s obvious to me that you don’t hold those values dear and the cause that I serve.”
— Gen. Mark Milley, chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. … If we do not as Americans confront the crisis of ethics and integrity in our society and among our leaders, in both public and private sector … then American democracy as we know it is entering its twilight years.”
— Rex Tillerson, secretary of state
“When I saw what was happening on Jan. 6 and didn’t see the president step in and do what he could have done to turn it back or slow it down or really address the situation, it was just obvious to me that I couldn’t continue. … I was thinking about the kids I was there to represent, and what they are seeing and what they are taking away from this — it was not defensible in any way.”
— Betsy DeVos, secretary of education
“But the fact of the matter is, he is a consummate narcissist, and he constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk. He will always put his own interests and gratifying his own ego ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. There’s no question about it. This is a perfect example of that. … He’s a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s, his personal gratification of his ego, but our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”
— Bill Barr, attorney general
“The counts that Donald Trump is currently facing — he is facing counts of obstructing the Constitution — to me that is disqualifying. Donald Trump should be disqualified from being the president of the United States — to me that’s not a question. We have to think: What would a second Trump term look like? Would these be the people that are running the government, the people that are currently facing indictments? Who would work for Donald Trump in the second term? That’s the question that we need to be asking or asking ourselves going into this election season.”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“The president still lacks the guiding principles needed to govern our nation and fails to display the rudimentary qualities of leadership we should expect of any commander in chief.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“He had a capacity to find people’s weak spot, their vulnerability, and then turn it on them in an incredibly mean, savage, and often effective way. He thought that the worst thing you could be called was a loser or weak, so he deployed those words a lot. He thought that the way to get under the skin of people in the media was to claim that their ratings were bad. He questioned people’s confidence, their looks, their intelligence — whatever he thought would do the most damage to someone’s psyche.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press secretary
“I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.”
— John Kelly, Chief of staff
“Beyond the fundamental incompatibility of our personalities, the ‘three A's’ — allies, authoritarians and Afghanistan — became millstones that ground down my relationship with Trump. Trump had made a tough and, in my view, correct decision on Afghanistan, but when members of his political base objected to that decision, he blamed me. Strongmen like Putin and Erdogan had come to see me as an impediment to their agendas and portrayed me as sabotaging Trump’s relationship with them. I saw U.S. allies as bestowing tremendous advantages, while Trump tended to view them as freeloaders on U.S. security.”
— Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens, to past generations that bled to defend our promise, and to our children.”
— James Mattis, secretary of defense
“Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage if he is elected in a second term. He is not an existential threat to American democracy. If you really think that, you must think this country isn’t worth much. Because, we’ve gone 235 years with this Constitution. We’ve survived a lot worse than Donald Trump. And this kind of comment undercuts those who are trying to see Trump put in this place.”
— John Bolton, national security adviser
“What’s going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he’s said the things he’s said and done the things he’s done? It’s beyond my comprehension he has the support he has. I came out and told people the awful things he said about wounded soldiers, and it didn’t have half a day’s bounce. You had his attorney general Bill Barr come out, and not a half a day’s bounce. If anything, his numbers go up. It might even move the needle in the wrong direction. I think we’re in a dangerous zone in our country.”
— John Kelly, White House chief of staff
“I thought that we’re at a different spot now — he’s going to finally give a direct order to deploy paratroopers into the streets of Washington, D.C., and I’m thinking, with weapons and bayonets. This would be horrible. He says, 'Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?' And he’s suggesting that that’s what we should do, that we should bring in the troops and shoot the protesters in the streets of our nation’s capital.”
— Mark Esper, secretary of defense
“We are unique among the world’s militaries. We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America — and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
— Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman, joint chiefs of staff
“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
— John Kelly, Chief of staff
“It was when he put out this statement — ‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts’ — and our jaws dropped in the press shop, even people who are still with him today. And, I went in several times to his dining room off the oval and was like, sir, you have to walk this back. And I even tried to coach him through. I was like you could suggest that what you meant to say is looting ultimately leads to violence. We don’t want violence. We want peace. And he said that’s not what I meant. And it was in that moment that I was like he doesn’t have this ability and the character to rise to leadership when it calls for it.”
— Alyssa Farah Griffin, director of strategic communications
“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now,’ to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.’ ”
— Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to White House chief of staff
“Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened. It seems cause and effect. The question is, did he know he was enraging people to do that? I don’t know.”
— Chris Miller, acting secretary of defense
“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking, and it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside. And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy. I came as an immigrant to this country. I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so, it was a decision that I made on my own.”
— Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation
“President Trump was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. I had no right to overturn the election. … The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath and I always will. I’m running for president in part because I think that anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
— Mike Pence, vice president
“The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making. Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.”
— Miles Taylor, chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security
“I do think that he poses a threat to democracy. I think that January 6 showed that and that’s part of my reason for resigning. He failed to act that day. He had every opportunity to call off the mob and condemn the violence.”
— Sarah Matthews, deputy press secretary
“I am terrified of him running for president in 2024. I don’t think he is fit for the job.”
— Stephanie Grisham, press
