Trump 'drifted away' from Constitution, says former Republican secretary of state

US President Donald Trump has "drifted away" from the Constitution, retired decorated general and former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell alleged on Sunday and said that he will vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the November presidential elections.

"We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the president has drifted away from it. I'm so proud of what these generals and admirals have done and others have done,” Gen (rtd) Powell told CNN.

A retired four star general, Powell served as the secretary of state under the last Republican George W Bush administration. He also served as the US national security advisor under the Regan administration and was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under both Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

The decorated American general supported the views expressed by some of the other retired generals who served in the Trump administration on his policies and handling of the nationwide protests in the aftermath of the custodial death of African-American George Floyd.

"I didn't write a letter because I made my point with respect to Trump's performance some four years ago, when he was running for office. And when I heard some of the things he was saying, it made it clear that I could not possibly vote for this individual,” said Powell, the first African American secretary of state.

"The first thing that troubled me is the whole birthers movement. And birthers movement had to do with the fact that the president of the United States, President Obama, was a black man. That was part of it," said Powell.

"And then I was deeply troubled by the way in which he was going around insulting everybody, insulting Gold Star mothers, insulting John McCain, insulting immigrants -- and I'm the son of immigrants -- insulting anybody who dared to speak against him,” he said.

"That is dangerous for our democracy. It is dangerous for our country. I think what we're seeing now, the most massive protest movement I have ever seen in my life, I think this suggests that the country is getting wise to this, and we're not going to put up with it anymore,” Powell said.

In a rare television interview, Powell said that he will vote for Biden during the November presidential elections. “I'm very close to Joe Biden in a social matter and on a political matter. I have worked with him for 35, 40 years. And he is now the candidate, and I will be voting for him,” he said.

At the same time he said that he has not been asked to campaign for Biden. “I don't think I will be. Campaigning is not my strong suit,” he said.

“I think this year is going to be a different kind of year. We have done things that have offended just about everybody in the world. Our friends are distraught with us. We are down on NATO. We are cutting more troops out of Germany. We have done away with our contributions to the World Health Organization. We're not that happy with the United Nations,” Powell said.

“Just about everywhere you go, you will find this kind of disdain for American foreign policy that is not in our interests. And we have to get on top of this. We have to start acting seriously. How can you say that we're going to take troops out of Germany, but we're also thinking of putting more in, and we're going to create a new headquarters in Germany? That was a headquarters I commanded 25 years ago,” he asserted.

“We have got to make up our mind of what we're doing, but it seems to all come out of the White House, without consultation with our Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is not the way the system is supposed to work,” Powell said.

"And until the president realizes that he needs to understand the Constitution, understand the restraints on him and his authority, and talk openly with his military authorities about what is the right thing to do, and not fire them when he doesn't get the answer he likes,” he said.