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Pentagon Heads Face Grilling on Unrest 07/09 06:19
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon's top leaders are going before Congress for
the first time in months to face a long list of controversies, including their
differences with President Donald Trump over the handling of protests near the
White House last month during unrest triggered by the killing of George Floyd
in police hands.
The House hearing Thursday will provide the first congressional testimony by
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, since March 4, when they appeared to discuss the administration's
defense budget proposal. That was before the full impact of the coronavirus
pandemic became apparent and before nationwide civil unrest threw the
Pentagon's relations with Trump into crisis.
Trump's push for an aggressive response to the civil unrest led to an
extraordinary clash with Esper and Milley, who on June 1 accompanied the
president when he walked from the White House to St. John's Church on Lafayette
Square, where he held up a Bible for photographers. That day, a National Guard
helicopter was flown at extremely low altitude to help disperse protesters from
the capital's streets, prompting a Pentagon investigation into whether that was
a proper use of military resources.
Esper drew Trump's ire for telling a Pentagon news conference that he
opposed invoking the Insurrection Act to permit the president to use the armed
forces to put down domestic civil unrest. Esper said he saw no need for such an
extreme measure, a clear counterpoint to Trump's threat to use force.
Esper also made known his regret at having accompanied Trump to the
presidential photo opportunity in front of St. John's on the day of the
Lafayette Square confrontations.
Milley later expressed public regret that he also had been part of the scene
with Trump. He said he had been wrong to stride in uniform with Trump past
protesters who had been cleared from Lafayette Square. Milley said his presence
"created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics."
"I should not have been there," he told a National Defense University
commencement ceremony.
Esper and Milley also are likely to be grilled by members of the House Armed
Services Committee on a simmering debate over removing the names of Confederate
Army officers from U.S. Army bases and banning other Confederate symbols. That
also puts them potentially at odds with Trump, who has said he opposes removing
the Confederate names from bases like Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The House and Senate versions of the 2021 defense budget legislation require
name changes at those 10 Army bases. Trump has said he will veto the bill if it
reaches his desk with that provision intact.
Neither Esper nor Milley has spoken publicly about two other controversies
likely to be raised at the House hearing --- intelligence reports that Russia
may have offered bounty money to the Taliban in exchange for killing American
and coalition troops in Afghanistan, and reported White House resistance to
permitting the Army to promote Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to the rank of
colonel.
Vindman, who played a central role in the impeachment case against Trump,
announced Wednesday that he will retire. A statement by his lawyer accused
Trump of engaging in a "campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation"
that meant Vindman's future in the Army would "forever be limited."
Vindman's name was on a promotion list sent to Esper earlier this year,
according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. But that list was
delayed for weeks because the White House asked for an investigation of
Vindman, one of the officials said. The Pentagon did a review and found that
any suggestion of misconduct was unfounded. One official said the list was
resent to Esper about a month ago, but again was delayed.
A senior defense official said the list was held up by a routine personnel
review not related to Vindman. Esper received the final promotion list on
Monday and approved it, with Vindman's name included, and it was expected to be
sent to the White House in the next day or two, the defense official said.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal
personnel matter.
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