Bill Clinton defends George W. Bush over his endorsement decision

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Former President Bill Clinton defended his Republican successor George W. Bush over his voting decision just days before Election Day.

In September, Bush's office announced that he would not support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris for the third consecutive term.

During a CNN interview on Sunday, Clinton — who has supported Harris and campaigned for her since she entered the ballot in July — praised the 43rd president's decision to remain silent in the 2024 race.

“First of all, I think he's said more than people give him credit for, and he's taking every opportunity I've seen to talk about how important immigration is and how we can't survive without it,” he told reporters Edward-Isaac Dovere from a tour bus while campaigning for Harris.

“He also knows that, starting with our relationship, it is completely different when you are no longer in political life, when there is no competition and no consequences.”

Clinton believes Bush does not want to risk alienating the party to which he has dedicated his life by publicly supporting a Democrat.

“And I think he believes that since he's been a proud Republican all these years, it's enough for him to do all that to make it clear what he believes in without abandoning the party that he's been a part of his whole life.”

Bush is the only living former president to refrain from publicly expressing support for either candidate.

His daughter Barbara Bush expressed her support for the vice president last week and promoted the Harris-Walz campaign. The political scion told us People She hopes Democrats will “move our country forward and protect women’s rights.”

Meanwhile, nearly 240 former staffers who worked under Bush, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the late Arizona Sen. John McCain have endorsed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Washington Post.

Nicolle Wallace, White House communications director in the Bush administration, tried unsuccessfully to influence her former boss and pressure him into a “change of heart” and anti-Trump stance, she told MSNBC last week.

A source told CNN that “Bush has actually turned away from presidential politics.”

However, the source added that “he has worked quietly and diligently to keep the Senate under Republican control.”

Clinton told CNN that Bush was a fan of Texas Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred – who is trailing incumbent Ted Cruz by a narrow margin in the polls – and even left a congratulatory voice message for the Texas lawmaker after he secured a seat in the House of Commons in 2018. “Oh, yeah. “He'll tell everyone he's a good guy,” Clinton said Bush told him.