In newly leaked e-mails, former U.S. Secretary of State calls the Republican nominee for president, Donald , “a national disgrace,” a “pariah,” and “racist.”
Powell also criticizes the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary , accusing her of “greed” and “hubris” but saying he still regards her as a friend.
July 26, 2014 email to Democratic donor Jeffrey Leeds:
“I would rather not vote for her,” Powell wrote. “A 70-year-old person with a long track-record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP).”
The e-mails were posted on the website DCLeaks.com, which has been accused of being an outlet for Russian hackers. They are the latest in a series of leaks that appear aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election.
Powell, who has acknowledged the e-mails are his, is a highly respected retired Army general who considered runs for the White House himself.
In one e-mail, Powell said he was staying quiet about because “to go on and call him an idiot just emboldens him.”
In others, he calls a “racist,” a “national disgrace, and an international pariah.”
May 2016 email to BuzzFeed’s Lawrence Wilkerson:
“I have been using the theme that [Trump] has captured the frustration and disappointment of average folks and not just racist nuts, but he is not the solution to their problems and angst.”
“We all need to start voting for America and not our parties,” Powell writes. “ is taking on water. He doesn’t have a GOP philosophy or even a conservative philosophy. We need a revolution and it will begin with the GOPcrashing and burning up its current form.”
Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa
Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
