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Report that Bush won’t support Trump reelection ‘completely made up,’ spokesman says

by Justine Coleman - 06/08/20 4:05 PM ET

George W. Bush’s spokesman said Monday that The New York Times report that the former president won’t support President Trump’s reelection was “completely made up.”

Spokesman Freddy Ford told The Texas Tribune that the Times’s report, which cited people familiar with Bush’s thinking, was false, but that Bush will avoid speaking publicly on his 2020 presidential vote.

“This is completely made up,” Ford said. “He is retired from presidential politics and has not indicated how he will vote.”

The Times report also said Bush’s brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who was one of Trump’s 2016 primary rivals, is unsure of how he will vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Ford had told the Times that the former president would not get involved in the elections and would only speak out on policy issues like he did last week when he said during massive protests against police brutality the U.S. must “examine our tragic failures.”

Both Bush brothers, as well as their parents, former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush, said in 2016 that they weren’t voting for Trump.

Trump had endorsed Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush in his reelection for Texas Land Commissioner in 2018. George P. Bush did not endorse his father’s 2016 presidential run before the former Florida governor dropped out of the race.

The Saturday Times article reported that several Republican leaders are struggling with whether to endorse Trump’s second term or throw their support behind presumptive Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), the 2012 GOP presidential nominee and one of Trump’s chief Republican critics, told The Atlantic in February he would not be supporting the president’s reelection.

Cindy McCain, the widow of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is likely to back Biden, although it’s unclear how public she will make her decision, according to the Times.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who served under Bush, announced on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he was backing Biden.