A Senate committee canceled a confirmation hearing on a former general’s controversial nomination for a top Pentagon position.
WASHINGTON – A Senate committee abruptly canceled a confirmation hearing Thursday on a controversial nomination by the former general for a senior Pentagon official after a furor over offensive comments he made about Islam and other incendiary comments.
The nomination of the retired brig from the army. Gen. Anthony Tata to be the Pentagon’s undersecretary of policy was already under fire from Senate Democrats, who sent him a letter this week asking him to withdraw. Tata, a staunch advocate of President Donald Trump and a Fox News commentator, has been working in the department as a senior adviser.
It was unclear Thursday whether his nomination would be withdrawn.
According to media reports, Tata 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.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., 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. He 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.”
Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, told reporters that Tata continues to work as an adviser to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
“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 briefing.
When asked if Esper supported Tata’s tweets about Islam, Hoffman said: “The general himself has said 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 of Rhode Island, 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 thread of four decades of faithful public service.”
The letter to Tata, signed by nine Democratic senators and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, said: “His 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 bigotry, and on the principle that hatred has no place in our government,” said Robert McCaw, director of government affairs for the Council. on American-Islamic relations.
Tata, who retired in 2009 after 28 years in the Army, served in various command and combat positions.
.
