US 2016 Presidential Elections: Trump Would Put «Security» at Risk, 50 GOPs Say

Local Editor

Fifty of the US most senior Republican national security officials, many of them former top aides or cabinet members for President George W. Bush, signed a letter declaring that Donald J. Trump "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president and "would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."

Trump, the officials warned, "would be the most reckless president in American history."

The letter said that Trump would weaken the United States' moral authority and questioned his knowledge of and belief in the Constitution.

It added that he "demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding" of the nation's "vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values" on which American policy should be based.

While foreign policy elites in both parties often argue among themselves - behind closed doors, or politely in the pages of Foreign Affairs magazine - it is extraordinarily rare for them to step into the political arena so publicly and aggressively.

Several former midlevel officials issued a similar if milder letter in March, during the primaries. But Monday's letter included many senior former officials who until now have remained silent in public, even while denouncing Trump's policies over dinners or in small Republican conclaves.

The letter underscores the continuing rupture in the Republican Party, but particularly within its national security establishment. Many of those signing it had declined to add their names to the letter released in March.

But a number said in recent interviews that they changed their minds once they heard Trump invite Russia to hack Clinton's email server - a sarcastic remark, he said later - and said that he would check to see how much NATO members contributed to the alliance before sending forces to help stave off a Russian attack.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team