The confirmation hearing for President Trump
Donald John Trump Governor Approval Rates Drop As COVID-19 Cases Rise Gohmert Says He Will Take Hydroxychloroquine As Treatment For Virginia Governor COVID-19, Senators Seek CDC Help With Coronavirus Outbreak In Center immigration detention MOREThe controversial candidate to direct the Pentagon’s policy was canceled less than an hour before it began on Thursday.
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee James Inhofe
James (Jim) Mountain InhofeDoug Collins questions Loeffler’s reliability in Defense’s first overnight television commercial: Guard to testify that the Lafayette Square clearing was ‘unprovoked escalation’ | Democrats push for controversial Pentagon candidate to withdraw | Watchdog says Pentagon ignores climate change risks for contractors Democrats urge controversial Pentagon policy candidate to withdraw (R-Okla.) He said the hearing was canceled because “many” Democrats and Republicans “did not know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time.”
“We did not receive the required documentation on time; some documents, which we normally receive prior to a hearing, did not arrive until yesterday, “Inhofe said in a statement released some 15 minutes before the hearing was scheduled to begin.” As I said to the president last night, 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. “
Senator Jack reed
John (Jack) Francis Reed Overnight Defense: United States to Withdraw 11,900 Soldiers from Germany | Troops Shuffle Cost ‘Several Billions’ of Dollars | Lawmakers plan to cut bread | Trump says he has not discussed the alleged rewards with Putin’s lawmakers. Trump’s plan to withdraw 11,900 soldiers from Germany. Overnight defense: Guard to testify that Lafayette Square clearance was “unprovoked escalation” | Democrats push for controversial Pentagon candidate to withdraw | Watchdog Says Pentagon Does Not Consider Climate Change Risks For Contractors MORE (DR.I.), the highest-ranking member of the committee, said in his own statement that senators on both sides had “serious questions” about Tata.
“It is fair to say that members on both sides of the aisle have raised serious questions about this candidate,” said Reed. “We had a closed-door session on Tuesday, and today’s public hearing has been canceled. 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.”
The White House had no comment when contacted by The Hill.
A spokesman for the committee told The Hill on Thursday afternoon that the panel “has not been officially notified” of any withdrawal of Tata’s nomination “as of now.” The spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about any informal communication.
Democrats have been calling on Tata, a retired army brigadier general best known for his frequent appearances on Fox News, to withdraw from consideration as undersecretary of defense for politics since CNN surfaced inflammatory and racist tweets last month.
In the 2018 tweets, for example, Tata called Obama a “terrorist leader” and said that Islam is the “most oppressive violent religion I know of.” He also called Rep. Maxine Waters
Maxine Moore Waters: Overnight Defense: The Guard To Testify That The Lafayette Square Clear Was An “Unprovoked Escalation” | Democrats push for controversial Pentagon candidate to withdraw | Watchdog says the Pentagon does not consider the risks of climate change for contractors. Democrats urge controversial Pentagon political candidate to remove Maxine Waters who jumps out of vehicle to monitor officers who apprehended a black motorist (D-Calif.) A “vicious race that harasses the racist” and said that she and Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiHouse The Republican Party Steering Committee selects four members for new committee positions. Pelosi Meets Presidents for Surprising Billing, But Tries to Dodge Hillicon Valley: House Panel Questions Tech CEOs During Long-Antitrust Hearing | TikTok will make the code public as it rejects ‘disinformation’ | Intel home panel expands access to foreign disinformation evidence MORE (D-Calif.) “They have always been the same violent extremists.”
In other 2018 tweets, he presented a conspiracy theory that the former CIA Director John Brennan
John Owen Brennan Brennan’s memoirs, scheduled for October, say Trump prevented him from accessing the records. Graham postpones investigation of Russia’s subpoena as tensions mount over Republican votes to give the president authority to subpoena Obama officials. MORE He used a coded tweet to order Trump’s murder and told Brennan to “pick up your poison,” including executing or sucking “on a gun.”
Tata has since removed many of the offending tweets. After CNN reports and after several Democrats in the military, including Reed, opposed Tata’s nomination, he also wrote a letter to Reed and Inhofe expressing their regret over the tweets and calling them “aberration in a thread four decades of faithful public service. ” . “
Tata has also been working as a senior adviser to the Secretary of Defense. Mark Esper
Mark Esper: Overnight Defense: United States To Withdraw 11,900 Soldiers From Germany | Troops Shuffle Cost ‘Several Billions’ of Dollars | Lawmakers plan to cut bread | Trump says he has not discussed the alleged rewards with Putin’s lawmakers. Trump’s plan to withdraw 11,900 troops from Germany. Don’t sink the future of the Navy MORE while waiting for confirmation. Pentagon chief spokesman Jonathan Hoffman deferred to the Armed Services Committee about future plans for Tata’s hearing, but said Tata would remain an adviser to Esper “in the meantime.”
“The general himself has stated that he does not believe or support the comments he made,” Hoffman said in a Pentagon briefing.
Ten Democrats, including five on the committee, wrote a letter to Tata released Monday asking her to step down and step down as an adviser, saying “multiple past statements cannot be dismissed simply as an aberration.”
Tata could be confirmed without any Democratic support, as the nominees only require a simple majority to be confirmed.
But questions have been raised about whether he could win enough support among Republicans, particularly those facing reelection who would have to defend their votes on the inflammatory candidate.
At least one Republican has indicated he could oppose Tata, but not because of the incendiary tweets. Senator Kevin Cramer (RN.D.) said in a statement last week that he would oppose Tata unless the Pentagon changes its policy not to add the names of those who died in the collision of the USS Frank E. Evans ship from 1969 to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Morgan Chalfant contributed to this post, which was updated at 3:10 pm.
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