Promotions for two female generals were reportedly paused over concerns about former President Donald Trump’s reaction.
Top officials at the Pentagon decided in the fall of last year that they would delay sending recommendations that Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost and Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson be given four-star commands until after the November election, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The officials reportedly feared that if the names of the two female officers were raised, Trump or his aides at the White House may have shot them down because they were not white men. The decision to hold back the nominations came after former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, upset Trump over their openness to change following protests about race last year.
Officials reportedly thought President Biden’s administration would be more open to accepting the promotions of Van Ovost and Richardson than the Trump administration, and they stuck to the plan even after Trump fired Esper on Nov. 9.
“They were chosen because they were the best officers for the jobs, and I didn’t want their promotions derailed because someone in the Trump White House saw that I recommended them or thought [the Department of Defense] was playing politics,” Esper said. “This was not the case. They were the best qualified. We were doing the right thing.”
Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who replaced Esper in the waning days of the Trump administration, pushed back on the reporting about the delay. He cited “timing considerations” and said the decision did not have to do with their gender.
The Pentagon, now led by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is expected to pass Van Ovost and Richardson’s recommendations to the White House in the coming weeks. Van Ovost is being nominated to lead the Transportation Command, and Richardson is being nominated to lead the Southern Command.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Pentagon for comment about the report but did not immediately receive a response.
