Former top Christie aide: I’m voting for Clinton

A former top aide to one of Donald Trump’s closest political allies has come out in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Maria Comella, a longtime aide of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), told CNN on Tuesday that she plans to vote for Clinton over Trump.

{mosads}”Donald Trump has been a demagogue this whole time, preying on people’s anxieties with loose information and salacious rhetoric, drumming up fear and hatred of the ‘other,'” Comella said told CNN’s Jamie Gangel.

“Instead of trying anything remotely like unifying the country, we have a nominee who would rather pick fights because he views it as positive news coverage,” she continued. “It may make him media savvy, but it doesn’t make him qualified or ready to be president.”

Comella worked on Christie’s presidential campaign and served as his deputy chief of staff for communications and strategic planning in his office.

She is the second veteran Republican operative in as many days to come out in support of Clinton over her party’s nominee, who has been at the center controversy after feuding with the Muslim parents of an American soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.

Sally Bradshaw, a former senior aide to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, told CNN on Monday that Republicans had nominated “a total narcissist — a misogynist — a bigot.”

Trump has sought to move past the controversy and go after Clinton but has faced continued criticism from top political figures, including President Obama.

“Instead of speaking out against instances of bigotry, racism and inflammatory rhetoric whether it’s been against women, immigrants or Muslims, we made a calculus that it was better to say nothing at all in the interest of politics and winning elections. For me, if our party has a future, we have to change that trajectory and lead by example,” Comella told CNN.

“I’m voting for Hillary Clinton in November and I’m voting for her because I don’t believe it’s enough to say you aren’t for Donald Trump. My mom and dad were Republicans, but they didn’t always vote Republican. There are times when principle trumps — no pun intended — party and we have to be okay with acknowledging that,” she said.