The letter also includes a handful of midlevel officials who served under Mr. Trump. But the list of signatories misses most of the biggest names in national security who entered the administration, only to be fired or resign. McMaster, the former national security adviser; and Jim Mattis, the former defense secretary. John R. Bolton, who was fired as national security adviser last year, has said publicly that he would not vote for Mr. Trump, but has refused to embrace Mr. Biden, saying he would write in a conservative Republican instead. When the first letter was released in 2016, it had some shock value: No one could recall when established national security leaders had abandoned the party’s nominee.

Source: New York Times August 20, 2020 17:55 UTC