Report: George H.W. Bush to Vote for Hillary Clinton

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush on Monday said he would be voting in November for Hillary Clinton according to a pair of sources who are close to the nation’s 41st President.

If true, this is a huge rebuke of the nominee of his own party Donald Trump.

The same sources said it was not the first time that Bush disclosed that he intended to vote for Democratic nominee Clinton.

These comments came while in a receiving line for a foundation that Bush attended and while he spoke to Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert Kennedy and the former lieutenant governor of Maryland.

There were close to 40 people present at the time and it was not clear the number of people who heard Bush, though multiple did.

The decision by Bush to vote for the Democratic nominee is a dramatic new chapter for the complicated relationship of three decades or more between two of the most prominent families in U.S. politics.

It is a huge political move and one that comes only 49 days from November’s election and within a week of the first debate between Donald Trump and Clinton.

Kellyanne Crowley the campaign manager for Trump on Tuesday said she respects the former president, who is 92 years old and the decision he has taken.

However, she added that it was ironic that he would vote for Clinton, as she is the wife of Bill Clinton who knocked Bush out of the race.

News of Bush’s support for Hillary was first seen on Facebook after Kennedy Townsend had posted a photo of herself with the former president and a caption that said she was told by the president he would be voting for Clinton.

When asked, representatives of the Bush family declined to make a publicly response.

The vote Bush will cast is one of a private citizen and just that, one vote and he will not comment on the race for the White House in the interim, said Jim McGrath the spokesman for Bush, through a prepared statement.

However, sources close to the matter and present for the conversation have said they were disappointed and surprised that Kennedy Townsend publicly shared the private conversation she had with Bush.

Kennedy Townsend did not comment via a spokesperson when asked about her sharing her private conversation with President Bush.