As many as 60 former officials who served under President George W. Bush’s administration will leave the Republican Party following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, citing the party’s ongoing embrace of former President Trump.
The officials cited Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) promotion of conspiracy theories as another reason for their exit, according to Reuters.
“If it continues to be the party of Trump, many of us are not going back,” said Rosario Marin, a former U.S. Treasury official, told the news agency. “Unless the Senate convicts him, and rids themselves of the Trump cancer, many of us will not be going back to vote for Republican leaders.”
Jimmy Gurulé, a former Treasury undersecretary, added that the Republican Party as he knew it “no longer exists.”
“I’d call it the cult of Trump,” he said.
“The number of defections is growing every day,” said Kristopher Purcell, a Bush White House communications staffer, according to Reuters.
Trump’s control over his party has alarmed many national Republicans eager to rid themselves of the former president following the events of Jan. 6, when his supporters rioted as members of Congress were meeting to certify President Biden’s win, despite the GOP’s voting base largely remaining in his corner.
Trump has expressed his own interest in running again in 2024 following his defeat to Biden in November.
A spokesman for Trump did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
