In an effort to deliver the anti-Trump message that the Biden campaign wants during the week of the Democratic National Convention, on Tuesday, ABC’s Good Morning America provided a friendly national platform to a disgruntled ex-staffer of the administration “joining forces with Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump.” Democratic hack and host George Stephanopoulos eagerly allowed his guest to hurl nasty accusations at the President without evidence.
Not even trying to hide his excitement at bringing on Biden-backing Miles Taylor, former Homeland Security Department chief of staff, Stephanopoulos opened the show by declaring: “ABC News exclusive. The former high-ranking Trump official with harsh words for the President.” A soundbite ran of Taylor accusing: “The President wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes.”
Stephanopoulos tried to scare viewers: “He says what he witnessed the President do was terrifying. He’s now breaking Republican ranks and endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden.”
Introducing the shameless propaganda segment at the top of the 7:30 a.m. ET, Stephanopoulos heralded: “We’re gonna turn now to our ABC News exclusive with the former top Trump administration official who is joining forces with Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump....He now describes Trump’s presidency as, quote, ‘terrifying and damaging to national security.’”
However, before the softballs could start being tossed, correspondent Cecilia Vega first had to offer a gushing report hailing Taylor:
Many other former senior officials have gone public with their concerns about President Trump’s fitness for office. But this is the highest ranking former member of the administration to break ranks and endorse Joe Biden....He served as the Trump administration’s chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security for two years. And in this video released by Republican Voters Against Trump, Miles Taylor says what he witnessed at the White House was terrifying....And in a Washington Post op-ed Taylor said, quote, “I can attest that the country is less secure as a direct result of the President’s actions.”
In the interview that followed, Stephanopoulos teed up Taylor to make multiple allegations against Trump but never demanded any evidence to corroborate any of the claims. Instead, the former Clinton operative was more interested in pressing Taylor on why he didn’t quit the administration sooner:
Well, what do you say to those who say you should have left earlier? You were part of a family separation policy which you decry, you actually publicly defended it sometimes. Some progressives are saying right now, you know, it’s not good enough. You should have realized sooner that this was not something that could be saved.
Wrapping up the over seven-minute-long segment, Stephanopoulos hoped for more administration defectors to turn on Trump and help the Biden campaign: “Do you expect more of your former colleagues to speak out now as we head into the final days of this campaign?” Taylor ominously assured him:
So, I can’t get into too much detail on it, George, but I’m going to tell you this, the President hasn’t heard the last of us. In fact, me speaking out yesterday, you could think of it as an opening salvo. And I’m not going to mention any other names yet, but the President can expect that in the coming weeks and months leading up to the election, he is going to hear from more people that served in his administration and he is going to hear more of them give the same testimonies that I gave, which is that he’s ill-equipped to hold the office that he has and that a second term would be more dangerous than a first term. You’ll hear that soon.
Certainly ABC and the rest of the leftist media will make sure to have every one of them on air to preach their hatred of Trump.
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Here is a full transcript of the August 18 segment:
7:01 AM ET TEASE
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: ABC News exclusive. The former high-ranking Trump official with harsh words for the President.
MILES TAYLOR [FMR. CHIEF OF STAFF, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY]: The President wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He says what he witnessed the President do was terrifying. He’s now breaking Republican ranks and endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Miles Taylor joins us live.
7:31 AM ET SEGMENT
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We’re gonna turn now to our ABC News exclusive with the former top Trump administration official who is joining forces with Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump. Miles Taylor was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. He now describes Trump’s presidency as, quote, “terrifying and damaging to national security.” We’re gonna talk to him live in a moment. First, Cecilia Vega has the details on his stunning public break with the President. Good morning, Cecilia.
CECILIA VEGA: Stunning is right. Good morning, George. Many other former senior officials have gone public with their concerns about President Trump’s fitness for office. But this is the highest ranking former member of the administration to break ranks and endorse Joe Biden.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Turning on Trump; Former Top Administration Official Blasts President, Endorses Joe Biden]
He served as the Trump administration’s chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security for two years. And in this video released by Republican Voters Against Trump, Miles Taylor says what he witnessed at the White House was terrifying.
MILES TAYLOR: The President wanted to exploit the Department of Homeland Security for his own political purposes.
VEGA: He says President Trump wanted to restart his family separation policy at the border.
TAYLOR: He said he wanted to go further and have a deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents to show those parents that they shouldn’t come to the border in the first place.
VEGA: And during those California wildfires, Taylor says the President told FEMA to cut off federal money to the state.
TAYLOR: He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses had burned down from a wildfire because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him.
VEGA: The White House quick to fire back, calling Taylor “another creature of the D.C. Swamp who clearly just wants to cash in.” And from the President’s son-in-law –
JARED KUSHNER: Look, Miles was a nice kid. Clearly he wasn’t up to the task.
VEGA: Taylor, a lifelong Republican, had some choice words of his own, calling the President unfocused and undisciplined, saying he often wanted to do things that were illegal. And in a Washington Post op-ed Taylor said, quote, “I can attest that the country is less secure as a direct result of the President’s actions.”
And Taylor also says the President bungled the coronavirus response with his, quote, “cavalier disregard for the seriousness of the threat.” He says top officials have been regularly diverted from important work to chase, quote, “absurd executive requests,” George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay, Cecilia, thanks very much. Let’s bring in Miles Taylor right now. Miles, thank you for joining us this morning. Let’s start out with those criticisms from the White House, two criticisms basically. One, you’re trying to cash in on your public service and, number two, Jared Kushner is basically suggesting that you were fired. What’s your response?
TAYLOR: So, George, first and foremost, thanks for having me this morning. Look, I’ll say this, as far as cashing in goes, in Donald Trump’s Washington, there’s no doubt that doing this is going to be tough for me reputationally, professionally, and it’s certainly going to take a hit at my pocketbook. This has nothing whatsoever to do about money, this has to do about being honest about the President and putting country before party.
As far as Jared goes, look, he and I got along quite well during the administration. My point here is not to slander anyone else that served under the President. My focus is on the character of the President himself, which is what this election is going to be about.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What were the circumstances of you leaving the administration?
TAYLOR: Yeah, so I left the administration on my own terms. And I’ll be really frank with you about this, George. I left the administration because I got to a point where saying no was no longer enough. We were constantly in a position with the President where it’s not that he would just tell us to do things that we would say are inappropriate, unethical or illegal, it's that he would continue to consistently tell us to do those same things. That was an enormous frustration. And when I realized we weren’t going to be able to pull him back from some of these impulses, it meant it was time to go. So I left of my own volition. And look, I’ll say this, the administration offered up a number of jobs that in any other administration would have been dream jobs for me, but at that point I was done and I needed to leave.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what do you say to those who say you should have left earlier? You were part of a family separation policy which you decry, you actually publicly defended it sometimes. Some progressives are saying right now, you know, it’s not good enough. You should have realized sooner that this was not something that could be saved.
TAYLOR: Yeah, look, I’m glad you brought up family separation. That was actually a policy that was developed before I took on my role as deputy chief of staff in the department, before becoming chief of staff. Attorney General Sessions announced that a few days after I stepped into that role and before then, I had been John Kelly’s counterterrorism adviser, so not focused on immigration. That said, family separation was a mistake. How that played out is a textbook example of government wrong – government gone wrong – and a textbook example of how this President has created an environment where bad policy decisions get made. Now, fortunately, a few months into that, when we realized this was the train wreck that Secretary Neilson had said behind the scenes, “This is going to be a train wreck,” we got the White House to issue an executive order to put an end to the policy.
But here’s the bigger concern, George, every single month I served in that administration, after we ended family separation, the President would come to us and say not only he wanted to restart it, he wanted to double down and implement a deliberate policy of ripping any kid apart from their parents that showed up at the border. Any kid at the border, that was stunning to me. I mean, frankly, it was one of the most disheartening and disgusting things I’ve ever experienced in public service and that significantly contributed to me wanting to leave this administration.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You also said the President wanted to withhold FEMA disaster aide from California during the wildfires. What fires are you talking about there? What happened with the aide? How was it communicated that it should be withheld?
TAYLOR: George, I wish I could tell you this was a one-time thing. In fact, it’s not lost on me that today we’re talking about California wildfires, because the first time we went through this was in 2018, and the President at the time would get into these phone rants with us, the Secretary and myself, about Jerry Brown and how frustrated he was with Jerry Brown, and later, Gavin Newsom, because they did’'t support him and he didn’t feel like he had a base of supporters in California. So as wildfires were burning down houses in the state, the President basically said to us, “I don’t care, these people haven’t done enough to deserve it, cut off the money.” In fact, that phone call that I referenced with FEMA officials, the Secretary and I were so concerned because we didn’t want our senior leadership to be exposed to how undisciplined and tumultuous the White House was because it made it harder for them to do their jobs.
So after that call, FEMA officials said, “What do we do? The President has just told us to cut off money to people whose homes are burning down.” Our answer was, “We’re not going to do it. Don't worry, we’ll go back to the President.” But then, George, months after, again in January 2019, the President said he wanted to do it. And again, I think subsequently, he tweeted about doing it. Fortunately it never happened. FEMA didn’t follow through on it because I think they ultimately determined from the lawyers that a tweet wasn’t an official order. But this is what we’re talking about here. Having to play whack-a-mole with bad presidential decisions rather than just doing the work of governing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you expect more of your former colleagues to speak out now as we head into the final days of this campaign?
TAYLOR: So, I can’t get into too much detail on it, George, but I’m going to tell you this, the President hasn’t heard the last of us. In fact, me speaking out yesterday, you could think of it as an opening salvo. And I’m not going to mention any other names yet, but the President can expect that in the coming weeks and months leading up to the election, he is going to hear from more people that served in his administration and he is going to hear more of them give the same testimonies that I gave, which is that he’s ill-equipped to hold the office that he has and that a second term would be more dangerous than a first term. You’ll hear that soon.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Miles Taylor, thanks very much.
