By Mark Gray
1:35pm PDT, Mar 31, 2024
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While running for president in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump said he knew "the best and most serious people" — then many of them were given spots in his cabinet and on his staff after he won the election.
During Trump's four-year term, his cabinet became a bit of a revolving door, as many, many people left. Now, having seen what the Trump White House was like, a large portion of them as well as former staffers are refusing to endorse the Republican candidate in the 2024 election.
Keep reading to see the Trump cabinet members and staffers who either won't endorse him or have said they won't vote for him… as they give their reasons why…
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Mike Pence, vice president
"It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News. "But that being said, during my presidential campaign, I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues, and not just our difference on my constitutional duties that I exercised on Jan. 6."
Bill Barr, attorney general
In a recent interview with CBS's "Face the Nation," former Attorney General Bill Barr said Donald Trump is like "a defiant 9-year-old kid who's always pushing his glass towards the end of the table, defying his parents to stop him from doing it." In a Fox News interview, he added, "One of the reasons I'm against Trump as the [Republican] nominee is I don't think he's going to move the country forward."
General H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
While on CNN, General H.R. McMaster — Donald Trump's former national security adviser — said it would be "terribly divisive for our country for [Trump] to run again."
Nikki Haley, United Nations ambassador
After suspending her 2024 presidential campaign, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley failed to endorse GOP nominee Donald Trump.
While campaigning, she questioned whether the former POTUS was "mentally fit" to hold the office again. "The concern I have is — I'm not saying anything derogatory — but when you're dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can't have someone else that we question whether they're mentally fit to do this. We can't," she said.
Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary
"He used to tell me when I was press secretary, 'Go out there and say this.' And if it was false, he would say, 'It doesn't matter, Stephanie. Just say it over and over and over again, people will believe it,'" former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed while speaking about Donald Trump on CNN. "He knows his base believes in him. He knows he can basically say anything and his base will believe what he's saying."
John Kelly, chief of staff
While speaking to CNN, former Chief of Staff John Kelly said Donald Trump has "no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about." The ex-president, he added, is "a person with nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law."
Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
In a farewell address to troops, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said of Donald Trump, "We don't take an oath to a king, or queen, or tyrant or a dictator, and we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator."
Sarah Matthews, White House deputy press secretary
"We don't need to speculate what a second Trump term would [look] like because we already saw it play out," former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews told ABC. "I've never voted for a Democrat in my life, but I think that in this next election, I would put policy aside and choose democracy."
John Bolton, national security adviser
"I always like to vote for a conservative Republican. Between Biden and Trump, there was no conservative on the ballot. So I wrote in the name of a conservative, and I would do the same in 2024," former National Security Adviser John Bolton told CNN. "I think in private, honest conversations, almost all of Trump's cabinet members and other senior advisers would agree that Trump is not fit to be president."
Karen Pence, second lady
To little surprise, former second lady Karen Pence — former Vice President Mike Pence's wife — isn't endorsing Donald Trump for president in 2024 either.
"I don't think anybody who puts himself above the Constitution should ever be president of the United States," she told "CBS Mornings" in 2023.
Mark Esper, defense secretary
While chatting with CNN, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Donald Trump can't be trusted with the country's national security secrets. Trump's handling of classified document is "irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk," he told CNN.
Jim Mattis, defense secretary
"We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution," former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis once wrote in a takedown of Donald Trump during the Black Lives Matter protests.
He continued, "Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children."
Mick Mulvaney, chief of staff
Donald Trump's former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told CBS that the former POTUS "failed at being the president when we needed him to be that."
Alyssa Farah Griffin, White House communications director
"Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don't say that lightly," former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin told ABC. While on "The View," she added, "Donald Trump in office could spell, frankly, the last election in our lifetime."
Dan Coats, director of national intelligence
While speaking about Donald Trump's handling of classified materials, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told CNN, "There are people in prison who have taken stuff home when they knew they shouldn't have taken it home. Maybe it was truly innocent, but it's so critical that we abide by the rules."
Cassidy Hutchinson, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' aide
"If Donald Trump is elected president again in 2024, I do fear that it will be the last election where we're voting for democracy because if he is elected again, I don't think we'll be voting under the same Constitution," Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told ABC.
Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff
"Your oath to the Constitution is one of your most sacred oaths to take," Vice President Mike Pence's former Chief of Staff Marc Short said on NewsNation. "If you violate that oath, and you call on your vice president to violate that oath — I think that's a pretty fundamental difference."
Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director
"I will do everything I can to make sure that [Joe Biden] stays in office," former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said on CNN.
Michel Cohen, former longtime personal attorney for Donald Trump
While speaking to MSNBC, Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen called his ex-boss "the single most dangerous thing in America to our national security and democracy."
Olivia Troye, homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Mike Pence
After former Vice President Mike Pence said he would "not" be endorsing Donald Trump in 2024, Olivia Troye, former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Pence, tweeted out his comments. "Proud of you," she wrote on X.
In a video put out by the group Republican Voters Against Trump, Troye said, "The truth is [Trump] doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself."
While on the White House coronavirus task force, she claimed Trump said, "Maybe this COVID thing is a good thing. I don't like shaking hands with people. I don't have to shake hands with these disgusting people."
She continued, "Those disgusting people are the same people that he claims to care about. These are the people still going to his rallies today who have complete faith in who he is. If the president had taken this virus seriously, or if he had actually made an effort to tell how serious it was, he would have slowed the virus spread, he would have saved lives."
Ron Gidwitz, U.S. ambassador to Belgium
Although former U.S. ambassador to Belgium Ron Gidwitz was a staunch supporter of Donald Trump in 2016, things have changed and he now believes the former president has gone too far to the right. In 2023, he endorsed Chris Christie, whose campaign failed to gain traction.
"He's speaking the truth. He's telling the public and the voters just how Donald Trump behaves, what he said he's done and not done," Ron said of Chris in a chat with Politico.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison
Once a proud Trump supporter — having initially found fame on "The Apprentice" — Omarosa Manigault Newman now calls the former POTUS a "con man."
"For me, I just can't believe I fell for a con man, a con man who turned out to be the biggest fraud," she told "Entertainment Tonight" in 2023. "All we learned was not the art of the deal but the art of the con."
While appearing on "Celebrity Big Brother," she was asked if she'd vote for her former boss again. "God no. Never. Not in a million years, never," she said.
Miles Taylor, Department of Homeland Security chief of staff
"In the first term, what Trump wanted to do ended up being very scattershot," former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor said on MSNBC in 2023. "And not to be too reductionist about it ― it was a little bit like a cat with a ball of yarn when he walked into the Oval Office. Constantly distracted, not a lot of focus. He knew he wanted to take a wrecking ball to the government, but by no means did he have a clear agenda. What's worrying about a second term ― and official after official that served in the Trump administration told me ― is now the plans are systematic."
Trump, Miles said, is "laying the groundwork" to "weaponize the powers of the government against the political opposition."
