20 former Republican US attorneys join stampede of former GOP officials backing Biden

Twenty former U.S. attorneys threw their support behind Joe Biden Tuesday, calling Donald Trump "a threat to the rule of law in our country."

The former prosecutors, appointed by Republican presidents ranging from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush, said they were called upon to perform their duties by enforcing the law both "effectively and impartially." Trump, they said, had departed from that mandate in troubling ways.

"The President has clearly conveyed that he expects his Justice Department appointees and prosecutors to serve his personal and political interests in the handling of certain cases – such as the investigations into foreign election interference and the prosecution of his political associates – and has taken action against those who have stood up for the interests of justice," they wrote. They said Trump's demands had "politicized" the department and undermined its ability to lead the nation's law enforcement by "picking political fights with state and local officials" in order to blame them for recent clashes in certain cities.

"For these reasons," they wrote, "we believe that President Trump's leadership is a threat to the rule of law in our country, and we do not support his reelection."

Trump's wretched presidency has elicited an outpouring of similar declarations of support for Biden from former GOP officials. In August, dozens of Republican foreign policy experts also formally backed Biden in a full-page ad.

In fact, one by one, high-profile Republicans have also been defecting. Those pledging to vote for Biden include former RNC Chair Michael Steele, former Sec. of State under George W. Bush Colin Powell, former Ohio governor John Kasich, former Michigan governor Rick Snyder, former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake, and Cindy McCain, just to name a few.