INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A former associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan on Friday said the question of fitness for office in the 2024 presidential election overrides any policy disagreements he might have.

Indianapolis lawyer Peter Rusthoven worked in the White House counsel’s office from March 1981 until April 1985, overlapping virtually the entirety of Reagan’s first term. He also was the Indiana communications director for Reagan’s 1980 campaign. Rusthoven was one of a dozen former White House lawyers — all of whom worked for Reagan, George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush — who endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president following last week’s Democratic National Convention.

In an interview with News 8 for Sunday’s “All INdiana Politics,” Rusthoven said while he disagrees with Harris on many issues, he trusts her to respect the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power.

“One of the things you learn working in the White House, and one of the things that, I think, Americans just learn, is that character is far more important than where you stand on any tax issue, any economic issue,” he said. “And in this case, I agree with, candidly, a number of former (Donald) Trump Cabinet officers as well as (former Vice President and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence) that he’s manifestly unfit for office.”

Rusthoven said his concerns with Trump stem first and foremost from his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, his repeated efforts to overturn those results, and his encouragement of the mob that ultimately stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Rusthoven said he also doesn’t like the way Trump insults and belittles his opponents. In addition, Rusthoven said, Trump has never demonstrated a consistent commitment to conservative principles. As an example, he pointed to Trump’s increasing break with social conservatives on abortion.

“At some level, we have to have a consensus about the sort of baseline character, integrity, trustworthiness of the person who holds that office,” he said. “Candidly, (Trump) is about himself.”

Rusthoven said voting for an independent or third-party candidate, such as Libertarian Chase Oliver, is not an option because nobody knows who those candidates are, and, as a result, Trump and Harris are the only two candidates with any realistic shot at the presidency.

“There is no instance in history where making a bargain — I will support this person whom I know to lack character, I’ll support him because I want to achieve this result or that result — there’s no situation where that’s proved right,” Rusthoven said.

Rusthoven said he’s not sure how much weight his endorsement of Harris will carry. Trump took home 57% of the vote in Indiana in both 2016 and 2020, according to the Secretary of State’s election data.

Rusthoven said it’s more likely his endorsement, along with those of other former Republican administration officials, will make a difference in the seven battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The most recent RealClearPolitics averages for those states put Trump and Harris in a virtual tie in all of them, and The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter rates all of those states as toss-ups.

Rusthoven said if even a few people change their minds as a result of the endorsement of Harris by former Republican White House officials, he will have done his job.

“All INdiana Politics” airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WISH-TV.