WASHINGTON – President Trump’s nomination of a retired general with a history of incendiary comments to serve in the Pentagon’s top political job was abruptly postponed on Thursday, as senators on both sides of the aisle indicated they were unwilling to endorse Anthony J. Tata, a novelist and Fox News Commentator.
Half an hour before Mr. Tata’s hearing began, Senator James M. Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who serves as Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, announced that he was delaying it.
“There are many Democrats and Republicans who did not know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very important position at the moment,” Inhofe said in a statement. “We did not receive the required documentation on time; some documents, which we normally receive before a hearing, did not arrive until yesterday. “
Inhofe said he spoke to Trump on Wednesday night and told him that “we are simply out of time with the August recess, so there would be no useful purpose in having an audience right now, and he agreed.”
The nomination of Mr. Tata, a retired brigadier general from the Army, was in trouble, facing a Democratic opposition wall and the mounting concerns of vulnerable Republicans who will be re-elected in November.
At the same time, several high-ranking retired military officers have abandoned their support for Mr. Tata. General Joseph L. Votel, the former head of the Central Command; General Tony Thomas, the former head of the Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, a former Air Force general, requested in June that their names be removed from a letter sent by 36 current and former leaders to the Armed Services Committee supporting the nomination.
Mr. Tata’s views, expressed in a series of tweets, come to a jarring note, particularly as the country is being captured by a growing movement for change. He called Islam “the most oppressive violent religion” and referred to former President Barack Obama as a “terrorist leader”. He has since apologized for the comments, which CNN first reported.
Mr. Tata was destined to succeed John Rood, who resigned in February at the request of Mr. Trump. Rood had rejected efforts to withhold military aid to Ukraine, a central issue at Trump’s impeachment hearings. But Mr. Tata’s chances seem bleak now, members of Congress staff said.
A Republican on the armed services panel, Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, had publicly indicated that he was prepared to block the nomination. Cramer said he would oppose Tata’s nomination unless he reversed a policy that prevented the names of sailors who died aboard a naval destroyer from being added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a long-standing personal crusade by the senator.
But other Republican lawmakers were privately uneasy about Mr. Tata’s incendiary remarks, and voting for the nomination would have put four Republicans on the panel, facing difficult reelection battles, in a particularly nasty position: Senators Joni Ernst of Iowa , Martha McSally from Arizona, Thom Tillis from North Carolina and David Perdue from Georgia.
Democratic lawmakers on the panel banded together to oppose Mr. Tata, making Mr. Cramer’s opposition threat potentially life-threatening to remove the committee’s nomination.
“No one with a history of repeated and disgusting statements like his should be nominated for a position of public trust in the Pentagon,” Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to Mr. Tata. “Their views are totally inconsistent with the values of the US military.”
Senator Jack Reed, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said after Mr. Inhofe canceled the hearing that “it is fair to say that members on both sides of the aisle have raised serious questions about this candidate.”
“We had a closed-door session on Tuesday and today’s public hearing has been canceled,” added Reed. “President Inhofe did the right thing here, and it is clear that this nomination will not go anywhere without a full, fair and open hearing.”
It was not clear if Mr. Tata could make it to an audience or if his nomination was dead.
During her conversation with Mr. Inhofe on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump could be heard indicating that he could give Mr. Tata a different date.
The call was heard because Mr. Inhofe put it on the speaker to hear better while sitting at the Trattoria Alberto restaurant in Washington.
The conversation, recorded by someone in the room, ranged from a discussion about Mr. Tata to Mr. Trump’s desire to preserve the name of Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army, at a military base.
“Are we going to keep the name Robert E. Lee?” Trump asked Inhofe. The senator put the phone to his ear but put Mr. Trump on the speaker and the president’s voice was audible to people sitting at other tables.
Mr. Inhofe replied: “Just trust me. I will make it happen.
Trump continued. “I had about 95,000 positive retweets about it. That’s a lot, “he said, apparently referring to a Twitter post last Friday in which he said that Mr. Inhofe had assured him that he would not change the names of” forts and military bases “and that the senator” is not a believer in ‘Cancel culture’. “
Trump could be heard on the call criticizing the cancellation of culture and told Inhofe that people “want to be able to come back to life.” Then he seemed to dismiss the focus on cultural change taking place across the country with an expletive.
An assistant to Mr. Inhofe declined to comment on the conversation. Attendees of Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
