Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer endorsed Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign months after being ousted by President Trump.
Spencer announced his support for the former New York mayor Thursday morning, saying, “I have the utmost confidence that Mike will faithfully execute his duty as commander in chief.”
Spencer, 66, was secretary of the Navy from August 2017 to November 2019, including when Trump pardoned Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who had been accused of several war crimes and found guilty of taking a photograph with a corpse of an Islamic State fighter.
It was unclear if the Navy would allow Gallagher to retire with his coveted Trident pin, but Trump ordered Gallagher to retire with full honors. Spencer side-stepped Defense Secretary Mark Esper to raise his concerns about Gallagher to the White House and was asked to resign by Esper in November.
In a parting op-ed, Spencer ripped Trump for his “shocking and unprecedented intervention” into the Navy’s affairs.
Prior to his endorsement of Bloomberg, Spencer had donated to Republican causes, including donations to George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, and the Republican National Committee. While Bloomberg is a Democrat today, he was a Republican when he was mayor of New York City.
“We need a leader who can bring the country together,” Spencer told the New York Times. “This is not about a party. This is not about left and right. It’s about where can we find a solution to get the country working together and be unified, with an operable political system.”
Bloomberg accepted Spencer’s endorsement and lauded him for breaking with Trump, saying, “I salute Secretary Spencer for not flinching from his duties. But the fact remains, we have a president, a commander in chief, who has no respect for the rule of law and no concern whatsoever for ethics or honor, or for the values that truly make America great.”
Spencer is slated to join Bloomberg on the campaign trail on Friday in Norfolk, Virginia. Bloomberg, a 78-year-old billionaire, has made a relatively strong showing in nationwide polls, despite not participating in early state elections such as the Iowa caucuses. The RealClearPolitics polling averages show Bloomberg in fourth place with 10.6% nationwide.
