Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Julie Mason he thinks it is unlikely former President George W. Bush would ever endorse Vice President Harris. Bush, who was president during Gonzales’s attorney general tenure, announced last week that he would not publicly support a candidate in 2024.
“That would be so contrary to his nature and what I know about the man,” Gonzales said to Mason on SiriusXM.
However, he does believe Bush may feel differently privately.
“That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t see this as a unique situation and think it might be helpful to say something,” Gonzales said. “I suspect he’s going to maintain his silence and have hope in the judgment of the American people.”
Gonzales penned an op-ed in Politico endorsing Harris. He wrote that the “character of the person we elect in November is particularly important today” and described Congress as “spectacularly incapable or unwilling to check abuses of executive power.”
“Casting a vote for Harris will require the American people to place their faith in her character and judgment,” he wrote. “Some may see her as too progressive and worry she would be too easily manipulated. There is little mystery or doubt, however, about how Trump will act and govern based on past behavior and comments.”
That endorsement followed former Vice President Dick Cheney’s endorsement of Harris, but Gonzales says the efforts of the two Bush-era officials were not coordinated. He added that most of the responses to his endorsement have been positive.
“I’ve been surprised at the number of comments I received,” he said. “I respect those who disagree with what I wrote, but those who I know aren’t going to tell me.”
