President Trump will not be outdone by the threat of a Senate rejection to install retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to a post at the Pentagon. He is using a temporary appointment instead.
When the Senate Armed Services Committee abruptly canceled the controversial Tata’s hearing on Thursday, Chairman Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, said the delay was about missing documents.
But reports have surfaced that Defense Secretary Mark Esper will announce that Tata will shift from an adviser role in his office to a temporary role performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for policy without Senate confirmation.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith was outraged by the news.
“Our system of checks and balances exists for a reason,” the Washington Democrat said in a statement issued Sunday. “If an appointee cannot gain the support of the Senate, as is clearly the case with Tata, then the President should not put that person into an identical temporary role.”
Tata has drawn the ire of Senate Democrats and some Republicans for tweets in 2018 that called President Barack Obama a “Muslim” and a “terrorist leader” and characterized Islam as the “most oppressive violent religion I know of.”
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Tata had since renounced the tweets and remained in his position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Smith’s statements and media reports confirm that Tata has removed himself from official consideration for the undersecretary role but has been appointed to manage the same tasks.
“This evasion of scrutiny makes our government less accountable and prioritizes loyalty over competence,” said Smith. “If confirmations cannot be completed, the President must find new, qualified people who can win the support of the Senate.”
