Colin Powell Says He's Voting For Biden

Former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he will vote for Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election.

Updated at 5:12 p.m. ET

On CNN's State of the Union, Powell said that President Trump has "drifted away" from the Constitution, and he praised other retired generals who have recently denounced Trump's response to protests in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Powell served under President George W. Bush as the first black secretary of state and was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the administration of President George H.W. Bush. He said that Trump's penchant to insult "anybody who dare[s] to speak against him" has always turned him off. Now, he says, more people are feeling the same way.

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

Trump, in a tweet, said "Powell, a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars, just announced he will be voting for another stiff, Sleepy Joe Biden."

Powell, who said he'd vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016, also posed questions about the constitutionality of Trump's conduct as president.

"We have a Constitution," Powell said. "And we have to follow that Constitution. And the president has drifted away from it."

The New York Times reported Sunday that several prominent Republicans are considering not voting for Trump, possibly including former President George W. Bush. However, it's unclear how many of them, if any, will publicly endorse Biden. [Copyright 2020 NPR]