Ex-DHS official: Some of Trump’s closest advisers worry about his ‘mental acuity’

Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official Miles Taylor on Thursday said that administration advisers have expressed concerns about President Trump’s “mental acuity.”

“It’s easy to make light of this,” Taylor, who served as chief of staff to former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.”

“The internet’s flooded with memes of really funny instances of Donald Trump showing less-than-great mental acuity. But this was discussed often. This was discussed daily. I am telling you with every fiber of my being that some of the president’s closest advisers did not think he had the mental acuity to do the actual job,” he said.

“We would go in there in meetings … you would sit there trying to keep your jaw from hitting the floor because you’re trying to present the president sensitive threat intelligence and information that he needs to consider and he can’t keep his mind on it,” Taylor continued.

JUST NOW: “I am telling you with every fiber of my being, that some of the President’s closest advisers did not think he had the mental acuity to do the actual job.”@MilesTaylorUSA tells @NewDay
of concerns he says he say inside the WH.pic.twitter.com/MPARGPIGC6

— John Berman (@JohnBerman) August 20, 2020

Taylor, who earlier this week said he was backing Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s bid for the White House, added that he “hardly ever saw” Trump read a document, “but he did love pictures. He loved pictures and there were many occasions where we had to go see the president and we figured out that the best way to convince him of something was to get a really good graphic of it.”

Taylor previously cut an ad for the group Republican Voters Against Trump and said in an op-ed that Trump sought to “exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes and to fuel his own agenda.”

The president lashed out in response, calling Taylor a “former DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE … who I do not know.” The former official responded by posting a picture of himself with Trump in the Oval Office.