Press Release
April 19, 2025
WASHINGTON – Today, over 200 prominent former government officials and other American leaders joined together in an open letter condemning President Trump’s retaliatory investigations targeting Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor– and all others illegitimately targeted by the administration. This powerful bipartisan statement marks the largest bipartisan public repudiation of any executive action targeting individuals with retaliation in President Trump’s second term.
The signatories assert that these executive actions represent a “dangerous escalation in the abuse of presidential power” and a “profoundly unconstitutional break with tradition,” and include:
Nearly a dozen former officials from Trump’s first term, including Ty Cobb, Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (ret.), John Mitnick, Elizabeth Neumann, Anthony Scaramucci, Olivia Troye, and Alexander Vindman; former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt; dozens of Republican and Democratic members of Congress, such as Charlie Dent, Reid Ribble, Kathleen Rice, Christopher Shays; former Senators Barbara Boxer and Tim Wirth; former CIA Directors Gen. Michael Hayden and William Webster; former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe; former Governors Arne Carlson, Christine Todd-Whitman, and Mark Sanford; former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta; HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson; presidential advisors Paul Begala and Bill Kristol; dozens of conservative and progressive policy luminaries such as John Bellinger, Rosa Brooks, George Conway, Joseph Nye, Richard Painter, Anne-Marie Slaughter, CAP CEO Neera Tanden, Laurence Tribe, and many more.
You can read the full letter HERE.
The letter states, “President Trump’s statements are a profoundly unconstitutional break with this tradition. He is explicitly targeting two Americans because they exercised their First Amendment rights and criticized him. That is a miscarriage of justice… The president of the United States must not direct federal authorities to investigate people with whom he disagrees.”
“This unprecedented bipartisan condemnation underscores the grave danger these retaliatory actions pose to our democracy,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund. “When over 200 of our nation’s most experienced leaders, spanning all political views, speak with one voice to denounce such an egregious abuse of power, it is time for all Americans to take notice.”
“The patriotic opposition has awoken,” said former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd-Whitman, who was elected statewide as a Republican and also served in the Bush administration. “There is no precedent for Donald Trump’s great abuses of power. And it is time to stand up instead of watching the rule of law crumble.”
State Democracy Defenders Fund stands firmly with these former officials in calling for the immediate rescission of these memoranda and for agency heads to reject any order that undermines their oaths or betrays constitutional principles. This historic bipartisan opposition sends a clear message: the weaponization of federal agencies for personal and political retribution has no place in American democracy.
State Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state, and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.