--- title: Michael Chertoff Endorses Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump description: Michael Chertoff mocked Donald Trump's performance in the first presidential debate canonical: https://time.com/4516790/michael-chertoff-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-03T17:47:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:32.588Z article:section: Politics og:title: He Once Pursued the Clintons as a Prosecutor. Now He's Backing Hillary og:description: Michael Chertoff mocked Donald Trump's performance in the first debate og:url: https://time.com/4516790/michael-chertoff-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240fe128a364523a/6988a876f887dc55dfe97a68/gettyimages-464384188.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Jeh Johnson Speaks On Department Of Homeland Security Funding With Former DHS Secretaries og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: He Once Pursued the Clintons as a Prosecutor. Now He's Backing Hillary twitter:description: Michael Chertoff mocked Donald Trump's performance in the first debate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt240fe128a364523a/6988a876f887dc55dfe97a68/gettyimages-464384188.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # He Once Pursued the Clintons as a Prosecutor. Now He's Backing Hillary for President > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 3, 2016 5:47 PM UTC  Michael Chertoff, former U.S. secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), speaks during a news conference with Jeh Johnson, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and former secretaries of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, not pictured, at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015\. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images Michael Chertoff, former U.S. secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), speaks during a news conference with Jeh Johnson, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and former secretaries of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, not pictured, at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015\. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 3, 2016 5:47 PM UTC Michael Chertoff, who was one the lead prosecutor on the Senate’s Whitewater committee that pursued the Clintons in the 1990s, [has officially endorsed Hillary Clinton’s campaign](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-10-03/clinton-s-former-prosecutor-michael-chertoff-endorses-her) for the White House. The Whitewater scandal centered around Bill and Hillary Clinton’s real estate investments in Arkansas. The Clintons and Chertoff have long been political foes, but in an interview with [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-10-03/clinton-s-former-prosecutor-michael-chertoff-endorses-her), the former Secretary of Homeland Security said Clinton’s “mistakes”—from Whitewater to using a private email server as Secretary of State—pale in comparison to the larger issue of national security and do not disqualify her for the White House. “People can go back decades and perhaps criticize some of the judgments that were made,” Chertoff said. “That is very, very insignificant compared to the fundamental issue of how to protect the country.” Chertoff has been publicly critical of Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past, signing on to a letter that said Trump would be [“reckless” as commander-in-chief](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/group-of-50-former-gop-national-security-officials-trump-would-be-most-reckless-president-in-american-history/2016/08/08/6715042c-5d9f-11e6-af8e-54aa2e849447%5Fstory.html). Chertoff mocked Trump’s performance in the first presidential debate, and the aftermath. “Not only did he seem at the debate to lose his temper, but to get up at 3:30 a.m. and reach for your smartphone is to me a hysterical reaction,” he said. “If you’re president, the button you reach for is not the Twitter button; it’s the nuclear button.” \[[Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-10-03/clinton-s-former-prosecutor-michael-chertoff-endorses-her)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4516790/michael-chertoff-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4516790/michael-chertoff-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/"},"headline":"He Once Pursued the Clintons as a Prosecutor. 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