George HW Bush Ready to Vote for Hillary Clinton?
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, the former Maryland lieutenant governor and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, has revealed that former President George H.W. Bush told her he is voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton instead of Republican Donald Trump in the November elections.
"The President told me he's voting for Hillary!!" Townsend said in a photo posted on her Facebook page, which shows her shaking hands with the former president.
Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the 92-year-old Bush, told CNN that he could neither confirm nor deny the claim.
"The vote President Bush will cast as a private citizen in some 50 days will be just that: a private vote cast in some 50 days," McGrath said. "He is not commenting on the presidential race in the interim."
Politico noted that Bush had intended to stay silent on the battle between Trump and Clinton, which it claimed is a "sign in and of itself of his distaste for the GOP nominee."
Townsend insisted in a phone interview with Politico that Bush had indeed told her he is planning to vote for Clinton.
"That's what he said," she explained.
Bush had backed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, his son, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, but has stayed silent on the race ever since his son dropped out.
Neither Jeb Bush, nor former President George W. Bush, have said that they will be backing Trump in his campaign, but they haven't said that they will be voting for Clinton either.
Jeb Bush strongly criticized Trump during the presidential campaign, and in January even suggested that the billionaire businessman's Christian faith was less than genuine.
"He's a flip-flopper," Bush said at the time. "He's playing this for political purposes for sure. I'd rather have him at first at least accept the fact that we are all imperfect under God's watchful eye and then that we should seek forgiveness and then ultimately to be a believer is accepting Christ as your savior."
Trump said in December that he has no interest in Bush's endorsement, even if it were offered to him, because he is "a low-energy person."
"I really don't want Jeb's endorsement, because he is a low-energy person and he does not represent strength, power and stamina, which are qualities our country desperately needs," Trump said at the time.