Sarah Matthews said Monday she did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016 before going on to work in his White House.
“I think I knew full well what kind of man he was when I went to go work for him,” Matthews told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. Matthews served as Trump’s deputy press secretary from June 2020 until Jan. 6, 2021, when she resigned over the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“And I didn’t necessarily agree with everything he said or did, but I knew that he needed people of good character to staff his administration, and so that’s why I agreed to join.”
“I didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016,” she continued. “And that’s not something I think I’ve even said publicly.”
She said he failed to win her vote because she didn’t like his character.
“But then as we got into the administration, I saw the policies and the people he surrounded himself with, then I was more okay with the idea of supporting him,” she said, adding that she jumped at the job opportunity when it came around.
“When he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, it started this slow burn in me where I felt really uncomfortable with the things he was saying and doing, and then obviously it was a breaking point for me on January 6,” she continued.
In 2022, Matthews testified before the House panel investigating the Capitol attack. In the lead-up to the 2024 election, she has become increasingly vocal in speaking out against the former president, his character, and the threat he poses to the country.
On Sunday, she told MSNBC’s Jen Psakishe would vote for President Joe Biden over Trump this year if it comes to it, even if she disagrees with Biden’s policies, because she would be casting a vote for democracy.
She is among a long list of former Trump advisors, staffers and allies who have warned he is unfit for office.
Watch her MSNBC interview below.
