Former State Secretary Colin Powell criticized US President Donald Trump after the latter warned that he would use military force against demonstrations.
Powell joined other retired military leaders in criticizing the decision of the commander in chief. They believe his actions would damage the relationship of the military and US citizens.
Powell, who worked for former President George W. Bush and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Trump is "drifting" away from the Constitution. He also called him a habitual liar.
"We have a Constitution. We have to follow that Constitution. And the president's drifted away from it," Powell said on CNN's "State of the Union.
He commended military leaders who have spoken out against Trump about the recent issues.
Voting for Biden
Powell also said he would vote for Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, in the next election.
On Twitter, Trump responded to Powell's comments by calling him the former secretary of state "a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars."
The president also said that Powell "just announced he will be voting for another stiff, Sleepy Joe Biden."
Trump's response continued till Sunday. "Colin Powell was a pathetic interview today on Fake News CNN. In his time, he was weak & gave away everything to everybody — so bad for the USA. Also got the 'weapons of mass destruction' totally wrong, and you know what that mistake cost us? Sad! Only negative questions asked," he tweeted.
Biden's reaction
"This isn’t about politics," Biden posted on Twitter. "This is about the future of our country. Grateful for your support, Secretary Powell."
Meanwhile, Powell believes that Trump is the first president in his lifetime who is not uniting the country. He added that the demonstrations only signal that the country is at "a turning point."
"The Republican Party, the president thought they were immune, they can say anything they wanted," Powell stressed. "And even more troubling, the Congress would just sit there and not in any way resist what the president is doing."
"The one word I have to use with respect to what he's been doing for the last several years is the word I would never have used before, never would have used with any of the four presidents I worked for: He lies," Powell said. "He lies about things, and he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable."
Military leaders
Powell was not the only retired military leader that is criticizing Trump.
James Norman Mattis, a retired United States Marine Corps, lambasted Trump for his response to the protests over George Floyd's death.
In an article on The Atlantic, Mattis emphasized that the president "tries to divide us" and described his "bizarre photo op" in front of St. John's Episcopal Church "an abuse of executive authority."Â Mattis made a comparison of Trump's response and Nazi strategies.
Retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC's "This Week" that Trump's "inflammatory language" could ruin post-Vietnam War efforts to establish citizen trust in the military.
"It seems to me [the protests] are all about ... trying to allow people to actually fulfill their potential, one of the great promises of living in this country," Dempsey added. "So we absolutely have to be very careful about how the military is used in that circumstance."
