Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘I Will Not Vote For the Republican Candidate for President’

Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he will not vote for Donald Trump during the 2016 general election, in a written statement released on Twitter Saturday.

“For the first time since I became a citizen in 1983, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for President,” Schwarzenegger wrote.

The former governor of California who recently stepped in for Trump to host “Celebrity Apprentice” added he has not made up his mind regarding who he will vote for.

“Like many Americans, I’ve been conflicted by this election – I still haven’t made up my mind about how exactly I will vote next month.”

Schwarzenegger wrote that he has been a Republican since he moved to the country in 1968. “That day I joined the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.”

He continued: “But as proud as I am to label myself a Republican, there is one label that I hold above all else – American. So I want to take a moment today to remind my fellow Republicans that it is not only acceptable to choose your country over your party – it is your duty.”

Schwarzenegger joins a chorus of prominent figures in politics and entertainment who are distancing themselves from Trump following the release of a tape from 2005 that shows him making extremely vulgar remarks about women with then-“Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.

GOP figures, such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Id.), as well as influential conservative personalities like Hugh Hewitt, have urged Trump to step down as Republican nominee.

Trump commented Saturday, “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life.”

No stranger to controversy, during his race for Governor of California Schwarzenegger was accused of sexual harassment of women between 1975 and 2000. The accusations included grabbing women’s breasts and buttocks, trying to take off a woman’s bathing suit, and asking a woman if a particular sex act had been performed on her.

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