Donald Trump criticized late Secretary of State Colin Powell as a ‘RINO’ who ‘made plenty of mistakes’ in a Tuesday statement one day after Powell’s death of COVID-19 complications at age 84.
In a statement full of mixed messages Trump commented on the posthumous praise Powell has been receiving since Monday morning and said he hoped he’d get the same treatment ‘one day.’
‘Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media,’ Trump said in a statement through his Save America PAC.
‘Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!’
Powell’s family announced his death in a Facebook post where they also mentioned the trailblazing government official was fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
However he’d previously been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that impacts the body’s ability to fight infections. Powell also suffered from Parkinson’s and underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 2003.
Powell made history as the first black national security adviser to a president, first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and first black Secretary of State, under the Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. administrations respectively.
Since his death, current and former government officials and every other living president across the political spectrum has paid respects to Powell and thanked him for his years of government service.
Donald Trump (pictured leaving Trump Tower in NYC on Monday) called Colin Powell (pictured arriving at George HW Bush’s Capitol memorial in 2018) a ‘RINO’ who ‘made plenty of mistakes’ on Tuesday morning
Barely more than 24 hours after his death Trump released a statement attacking the former government official
Praise for Powell also came from Trump-aligned think tank America First Policy Institute, which employs a number of former Trump administration officials including ex-economic adviser Larry Kudlow, ex-acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and ex-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.
‘The late General Powell ascended to great heights, and did many great things. But for this one thing above all other – restoring and leading a military that kept faith with the country it serves, delivering victories and therefore peace – he deserves our respect and remembrance today,’ the group said on Monday.
Trump’s insulting comments come barely more than 24 hours after Powell’s death.
Also on Monday, veteran journalist Bob Woodward revealed in the Washington Post that Powell criticized Trump over the January 6 Capitol riot in his final interview before his passing.
‘It was awful. He was going in there to overturn the government,’ Woodward claimed Powell said of Trump.
‘Trump refuses to acknowledge that he wasn’t reelected. He has people who go along with him on that,’ Powell reportedly said.
In the interview, which he gave three months before his death, Powell told Americans: ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, I’m 84 years old.’
‘I haven’t lost a day of my life fighting these two diseases. I’m in good shape.’
He said he had to ‘get all kind of exams’ at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., noting: ‘I’m a former chairman, so they don’t want to lose me, so they make me come there all the time.’
Powell and Trump had been diametrically opposed to one another since Powell spoke out against him in 2016.
The formerly Republican official has endorsed Democrats for president since Barack Obama in 2016.
In 2016 he stood behind fellow former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.
Powell, seen here in 1990, was the first black Secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
He said he was suffering from blood cancer and Parkinson’s Disease and had to ‘get all kind of exams’ at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (pictured)
Leaked personal emails from around the time showed Powell calling Donald Trump a ‘national disgrace’ and an ‘international pariah.’
‘Trump is nuts. Everybody wants me to speak out, but I will pick the time and place for maximum effect like I did in 2008 and 2012. Right now, Trump is his worst own enemy,’ Powell had written.
He told CNN in June 2020 that he’d vote for Biden in November because he ‘certainly cannot in any way support President Trump this year.’
Trump’s reaction to Powell was swift and angry.
‘Colin 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. Didn’t Powell say that Iraq had ‘weapons of mass destruction?’ They didn’t, but off we went to WAR!’ he wrote on Twitter at the time.
Within an hour the then-president followed it up with another tweet calling Powell ‘highly overrated.’
‘Somebody please tell highly overrated Colin Powell that I will have gotten almost 300 Federal Judges approved (a record), Two Great Supreme Court Justices, rebuilt our once depleted Military, Choice for Vets, Biggest Ever Tax & Regulation Cuts, Saved Healthcare & 2A, & much more!’ Trump wrote.
Powell told CNN early in 2021 after four years of Trump that he could ‘no longer call myself a fellow Republican.’
Around the same time he went after the former Republican president more directly, urging him to stand aside in a January 2021 interview with NBC’s Today.
‘I wish he would do what Nixon did and just step down. Somebody ought to go up to him and it’s over. Plane’s waiting for you. You’re out,’ Powell had said.
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