Another high-ranking official in the George W. Bush administration endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, calling former President Donald Trump “perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation.”
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez revealed his support for Harris in an op-ed for Politico, saying he couldn’t “sit quietly” as Trump “eyes a return to the White House.”
“The American presidency is the most powerful position in the world. Of course, our constitution and laws, as well as institutions such as Congress and our courts, act as guardrails to that power,” wrote the 69-year-old former White House counsel.
“The law provides the certainty of accountability and fundamental fairness,” he said. “Yet it is the president’s integrity, honesty and respect for our institutions that may be the most important and reliable check on abuses of power.”
“As the United States approaches a critical election, I can’t sit quietly as Donald Trump — perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation — eyes a return to the White House,” he declared. “For that reason, though I’m a Republican, I’ve decided to support Kamala Harris for president.”
Gonzalez also let Harris skate on responsibility for President Biden’s least popular policy decisions regarding the economy and the US border crisis.
“Based on my experience … a vice president truly has little to no influence on economic policy,” he said. “A vice president may provide input, but it is the president who is the ultimate decision-maker.”
Throughout Harris’ time in office, she has taken partial credit for significant executive decisions — including being “the last person in the room” before the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal commenced.
“This is a president who has an extraordinary amount of courage,” she told CNN one week after the botched bugout. “He is someone who I have seen over and over again make decisions based on what he truly believes — based on his years of doing this work and studying these issues — what he truly believes is the right thing to do.”
Additionally, Gonzalez slammed Republicans in Congress for being “unwilling to check abuses of executive power” — despite holding Biden accountable for unconstitutionally canceling student debt, a move that was struck down by the Supreme Court last year.
He did not clarify to which abuses of power he was referring, but he claimed that Harris had, by contrast, “sworn fidelity to the rule of law as a former local prosecutor and state attorney general.”
“While I may disagree with some of her policies, I am hopeful she will be open to dissenting views and will act always in a manner respectful of the power of all three branches of government,” Gonzalez speculated.
Harris and Biden have both attacked one of those branches — the Supreme Court — over its decisions on the student debt cancellation push, the Second Amendment and a recent presidential immunity decision.
The justices also received Gonzalez’s ire for their June ruling granting chief executives immunity from being prosecuted for “official acts,” as part of a federal criminal case brought against Trump following his 2020 stolen election accusations that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Trump “failed to do his duty and exercise his presidential power to protect members of Congress, law enforcement and the Capitol from the attacks” of his supporters who breached the US Capitol building, according to Gonzalez.
Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, endorsed Harris in a statement last week.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” said Cheney, 83. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” he added. “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Former President Bush endorsed GOP candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, respectively, but has not supported a presidential candidate publicly since.
