Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Kelly Rissman

Ex-Trump White House aide reveals he would back Biden in a 2020 rematch

CNN/screengrab

Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former White House communications director, admitted he would support Joe Biden if he went head-to-head again with Donald Trump.

This election is “going to be a battle for democracy”, Mr Scaramucci told CNN.

Speaking of the dangers of another Trump presidency, Mr Scaramucci said, “he’s going to expand executive power, he’s gonna make things rougher for people, he’s already said he’s going after his adversaries using the Department of Justice.”

“For all of these reasons, we gotta help the Democrats here if [Trump] is eventually the nominee,” the former aide added.

When host Jim Acosta asked to clarify if he is backing President Biden in 2024, Mr Scaramucci said, “100 per cent, if Donald Trump is the nominee.”

“I’m a patriot first and a partisan second,” he continued. “This is a battle for American democracy. This is a battle for freedom.”

“When someone tells you they’re going to flex and be a dictator on day one and go against their adversaries, this is against the 200-plus-year experiment of America,” he added. “We have to hire an institutionalist in 2024 and preserve and expand the system of American democracy. Mr Trump does not want to do that.”

If the matchup ends up being Mr Trump against Mr Biden, “I will do everything I can to make sure that the president stays in office,” Mr Scaramucci concluded.

The former communications director is just one of many former Trump aides to speak out against another Trump presidency, and the threat their former boss poses to American democracy.

“Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don’t say that lightly,” Alyssa Farah Griffin, another ex-Trump White House communications director, told ABC News in December.

Bill Barr, the former attorney general, has also expressed his opposition to Trump becoming the GOP nominee.

He told Fox News last month: “I’m worried that his style of governance, his continuing to pander to anger and frustration versus a constructive approach to solving our problems, is going to be chaotic and not accomplish very much.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.