Sarah Matthews, an ex-staffer of former President Trump, said Monday she would not cast her vote in November for her former boss, signaling she could instead vote for President Biden.
“When we have a candidate on the ballot who will not uphold the Constitution, then I feel like I have to put policy aside” Matthews said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
“And I wanna support the person who is best suited to defeat Donald Trump,” she added in the clip, highlighted by Mediaite.
Her remarks stand in contrast with some other former advisers to Trump. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who became a frequent critic of the former president after leaving office, said earlier this month that he will vote for the “Republican ticket” in November.
“I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country,” Barr said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “And in my mind, that’s — I will vote the Republican ticket.”
Matthews said she has talked with a lot of Republicans, including high-ranking elected officials, who “bash” Trump privately. But, she added, “many of them will not even say it publicly.”
“What they often say is that they’re supporting him because of the policies, that they want the conservative agenda. And where I get really frustrated is that they’re treating this like it’s a normal election, a normal Republican candidate and a normal Democratic candidate,” Matthews continued. “Well, this couldn’t be anything further from the case.”
In the wake of his decision to support the GOP ticket, no matter the candidate, Trump mocked Barr on social media.
“Wow! Former A.G. Bill Barr, who let a lot of great people down by not investigating Voter Fraud in our Country, has just Endorsed me for President despite the fact that I called him ‘Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy’ (New York Post!),” Trump posted on Truth Social last week. “Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word ‘Lethargic’ from my statement. Thank you Bill.”
Another Republican leader who has bumped heads with the former president also put his support behind Trump last month: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endorsed Trump after his last remaining rival, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign.
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States,” the senator said in a statement at the time. “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”