Bill Clinton’s former CIA director, James Woolsey, will serve as a senior adviser to Donald Trump for the remainder of the election after spending years as a self-described “Scoop Jackson Democrat,” the Republican presidential nominee’s campaign announced on Monday.
Woolsey served as an energy policy adviser to Arizona Sen. John McCain during his 2008 White House bid and has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration. He joins Trump’s campaign as an adviser on national security and defense.
“I have been a ‘Scoop Jackson,’ ‘Joe Lieberman’ Democrat all of my adult life, but I am pleased to be asked to participate with others I respect in advising GOP candidate Donald J. Trump on the urgent need to reinvest in and modernize our military in order to confront the challenges of the 21st century,” Woolsey said in a statement.
“Mr. Trump’s commitment to reversing the harmful defense budget cuts signed into law by the current administration, while acknowledging the need for debt reduction, is an essential step toward reinstating the United States’ primacy in the conventional and digital battlespace,” he said.
The former CIA director has joined the campaign exactly two weeks ahead of the first presidential debate, and less than a week after Trump squared off against Hillary Clinton in a town hall forum on defense. Woolsey described Clinton as unfit to lead because of her record as secretary of state.
“Since Secretary Clinton left the State Department, we have learned that she demonstrated a complete lack of understanding and an inability to lead the agency she headed in such a way as to maintain its mission and security,” he charged.
“Based on the emails thus far released, we know that Secretary Clinton also lacks the ability to lead her senior managers while complying with and maintaining the basic protocols designed to protect our government’s sensitive and classified information.”
Woolsey endorsed McCain in 2008 and served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s leading primary opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, before he suspended his campaign in early May.
