Donald Trump has asked aides to carry out unlawful acts, offering them a Presidential pardon as a “get out of jail” card, a former staffer says.
His former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, Miles Taylor, says he regularly observed Trump abuse the authority of his office.
Photo: AFP
Taylor is the co-founder of REPAIR, The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, which is encouraging other former aides to step forward and speak candidly about Trump’s behaviour in office.
He says the recent revelations in The New York Times about Trump’s tax status and his huge debts are a major concern.
“For the President to be $US400 million plus in debt clearly is beholden to someone. Is that debt held by foreign governments? Is that debt held by governments that the president is aligning himself with? Is he aligning himself with those governments so that when he leaves office he can prevent himself from ending up in bankruptcy and use their support to develop new business opportunities?” He told Kathryn Ryan.
It is not a stretch to think that Trump’s decision-making is being influenced by his own financial situation, Taylor says.
“It’s unclear to whom the President owes that money, and if it’s foreign banks, oftentimes, in autocratic countries like Russia or China a foreign bank is not independent of the government, like it is here in the United States, a foreign bank would be beholden to that government and its leaders.
“That’s especially a concern as the President of the United States deals with those leaders so if they have control, or leverage rather, over Donald Trump because he owes their banks money that could potentially have an impact on his decision-making on behalf of the American people, that is the national security concern that we are worried about.”
Taylor says he witnessed “many occasions” when the President abused the authority of his office for personal gain.
“He regularly would make demands of us at the Department of Homeland Security, his most important department in his administration, he would make demands that would benefit his own personal political goals but would be at the expense of the American people.”
One example is cutting off aid to his enemies, Taylor says.
“When we had wildfires in California, which we are experiencing now, two years ago when we had similar wildfires the President told us to cut off the aid money to help people rebuild their homes. The reason he did that is because he told us explicitly ‘I don’t like California, Californian people don’t support me, and their Governor doesn’t support me’.”
He did the same thing with aid to Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane there, Taylor says.
“Donald Trump regularly abuses the authorities of his office for personal gain or to punish is enemies. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he might make national security decisions on the basis of his long term financial interests.”
Matters came to a head for Taylor when he became embroiled in the southern border and the separation of children from parents.
“There was a period of time, 2017 to 2018, when the President and his top aides wanted to implement a deliberate policy of family separation at our border.”
The President wanted to tear families apart as a deterrent, he says.
“Basically, to send a signal that if you show up, we’re going to break your family apart and we’re going to deport people separately.
“They wanted to do that, we resisted that thoroughly, we said it was absolutely unacceptable, the Department of Homeland Security will never implement such a policy.”
The White House then circumvented the Department of Homeland Security and went to the to the Justice department, Taylor says.
“They convinced the Attorney General to adopt a policy called zero tolerance. All that meant was the Attorney General said I’m going to prosecute every single adult that crosses the southern border.
“Well the consequence of that is, if you prosecute every single adult, they are de facto separated from their children. And if there aren’t enough resources to put them back together in time that separation will last a long period.”
The policy was a “predictable disaster” says Taylor, but that did not deter Trump who continued to insist on “extreme measures” at the border.
“At one point he insisted to us, at a visit down to the southern border, that we seal the entire area, we not let anyone else in. And we explained to the President that would be illegal because under US law.
“If someone’s an asylee or refugee and says I am fleeing persecution and violence and need protection under US law we have to consider the merits of the case and the courts look at it and determine whether the person comes in, it’s not the President’s decision.”
The President however persisted with his demands to unlawfully seal the border, Taylor says.
“When he was reminded for the umpteenth time that this would be unlawful, he said ‘I don’t care if it’s illegal just do it, I will pardon you.
“He would offer a Presidential pardon, basically a get out of jail free card, to anyone who broke the law.
“That was the moment I decided I had to leave the administration and it’s one of the most egregious examples of presidential misconduct I’ve ever witnessed.”
Taylor says he knows many former members of Congress and other senior Republicans who are aghast at the President’s behaviour.
Their silence is explained by the President’s “vice-like” grip on the party, he says.
“He’s really made people fear, not just for their careers but their families and their personal safety if they speak out against him.
“Since I’ve started speaking out against the President, I’ve received innumerable death threats. I’ve had to relocate my family, I’ve had to take extraordinary measures for my personal safety, because the President has such a vicious social media mob that follows him.”
REPAIR has the twin goals of getting Trump out of office and rebuilding the Republican Party, Taylor says.
In the first head-to-head debate on Wednesday, Taylor predicts the “school yard bully” will show up.
“The person who is most prepared for the debate is the person who is most prepared for the Presidency and Joe Biden is probably the most qualified person to have ever run for President in US history.
“Joe Biden will come to this debate ready to talk about issues, Donald Trump, as we already know from media reports, has done next to no preparation for the debate and typically is unqualified when it comes to discussing key matters of substance.
“That’s what we are going to see tonight, we are going to see the school yard bully versus the class president.”
