A committee of the United States Senate abruptly canceled a confirmation hearing Thursday for retired Army Brigadier General Anthony Tata to become the Pentagon’s undersecretary of policy after a scandal erupted over offensive comments he made about Islam and others. incendiary comments.
Tata’s nomination has already been criticized by Senate Democrats, who sent her a letter this week asking her to withdraw.
Tata, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and a conservative commentator for the Fox News television channel, has been working at the United States Department of Defense as a senior adviser to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
The cancellation of Tata’s confirmation hearing, a Washington ritual for appointing presidential politicians, now questions whether her nomination would be withdrawn by the White House.
According to media reports, Tata had posted tweets in 2018 calling Islam the “most oppressive violent religion I know of,” and called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader,” and referred to him as a Muslim. The tweets were later removed.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, a Republican, announced the cancellation of the hearing shortly before it was scheduled to begin.
“There are a lot of Democrats and Republicans who didn’t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very important position right now,” Inhofe said.
Inhofe said the panel did not receive the required documents from Tata until Thursday. “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,” he said.
Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, told reporters that Tata would continue to work as an adviser to Esper.
Tata will continue to serve as senior political adviser to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a Pentagon spokesman said. Esper is shown here speaking at Whiteman Air Force Base July 22, in front of a stealth B-2 bomber. [Robert Burns/AP Photo]
“The department hoped that General Tata would have an opportunity to share his experience and success in leading large public organizations, public sector organizations, and his extensive experience in national security with the committee today,” Hoffman said during a Pentagon press conference.
When asked if Esper supported Tata’s tweets about Islam, Hoffman said: “The general himself has stated that he does not believe or support the comments he made. He issued a letter to the committee retracting those statements.”
The committee’s top Democrat, Senator Jack Reed, said the senators had a closed-door meeting Tuesday, and Inhofe “did the right thing” by canceling the hearing.
“It is fair to say that members on both sides of the aisle have raised serious questions about this candidate,” said Reed.
According to a statement by the senators who sent the letter, Tata withdrew his statements, “many of which he deleted, only after his nomination was made public.” They said Tata referred to the tweets as an “aberration in a faithful four-decade public service thread.”
The letter to Tata, signed by nine Democratic senators and independent Vermont Bernie Sanders, said: “Your letter to the committee leadership appears to be a conveniently timed retraction by someone who suddenly realized that his nomination is in jeopardy. But his multiple past statements cannot be dismissed simply as an aberration. “
Islamic groups have repeatedly called on lawmakers to oppose Tata’s nomination. And they praised the cancellation of the hearing.
“If Mr. Tata really doesn’t have enough votes to proceed, his defeat will represent a victory over anti-Muslim fanaticism, and on the principle that hatred has no place in our government,” said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs. of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Tata, who retired in 2009 after 28 years in the U.S. Army, served in various command and combat positions.
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