President Trump waded into the controversy surrounding acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly’s comments about the USS Theodore Roosevelt’s former commander Capt. Brett Crozier.
Trump was asked about Modly’s recently leaked speech, during which he said Crozier was either “too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer” of the aircraft carrier. Crozier was relieved of the position after a letter expressing his concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on the ship was published in the media.
The president said that, although he hadn’t looked into the matter, he was now going to “get involved” in the situation.
“If that were the statement, it’s a strong statement. Look, the letter shouldn’t have been sent. Certainly, they shouldn’t have been leaked,” Trump said. “This is a military operation. I must tell you, I’ve heard very good things about the gentlemen, both gentlemen, by the way. I will say this about both gentlemen. And I may look into it only from the standpoint that something should be resolved. I’m hearing good things about both people. I may just get involved.”
Trump characterized the dispute as “two good people” who are arguing.
“And I’m good, believe it or not, at settling arguments,” Trump said. “So, I may look into it in detail, and I’ll be able to figure it out very fast.”
Trump emphasized that the letter shouldn’t have been sent to so many people and characterized Crozier’s decision as a “mistake that shouldn’t have been made.” He said it caused family members of sailors aboard the ship to be nervous and that “it shows weakness.”
“We don’t want to have letter-writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter or gets a leak. We don’t want that,” he said. “So, the letter shouldn’t have been sent. With all of that said, his career prior to that was very good. So, I’m going to get involved and see exactly what’s going on there because I don’t want to destroy somebody for having a bad day.”
Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia on Monday called on Modly to resign after audio of the speech from Modly to sailors was published.
