Democrats on Monday launched a forceful rebuke of the White House’s recent decision to tap a controversial retired Army general to perform the duties of a top Pentagon policy official after his Senate nomination hearing was abruptly cancelled last week.
The White House formally announced that the nomination of Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to be the next Under Secretary of Defense for Policy was withdrawn Monday afternoon following bipartisan opposition to the appointment.
Both Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee had expressed skepticism of Gen. Tata’s nomination after polarizing remarks he had made on social media were discovered, including criticizing Islam and calling former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader.”
Gen. Tata later withdrew from consideration from the role and has since been assigned to perform the duties of the deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, the Defense Department announced late Sunday, effectively skirting a Senate confirmation process.
James Anderson, who was confirmed as deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, is currently serving in the top policy spot in an acting capacity.
The announcement of Gen. Tata’s new title was quickly met with pushback from Democrats on the Senate panel who condemned the move.
“I demanded Anthony Tata withdraw his nomination to be the Pentagon’s #3 official because he’s an Islamophobic conspiracy theorist who is totally unqualified,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, tweeted.
“@EsperDoD put him in the job anyway. Shame on you, Mr. Secretary.”
She claimed that by assigning Gen. Tata to the role in an acting capacity, committee chairman Sen. James Inhofe and Mr. Esper “did Trump’s dirty work to avoid an embarrassing hearing and bypass the Senate. Their blind loyalty to Trump puts our national security at risk.”
But Gen. Tata will ultimately be the second top policy position, a defense official told Politico.
“Mr. Tata was not placed into the same position he was previously nominated to,” but instead the no. 2 policy role.
“Her ire appears to be misinformed/misdirected,” the official told the publication.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Democrat, pointed to Gen. Tata’s history of public islamaphobic remarks in her rebuke of the move.
“His bigotry and lack of judgement make him a danger in any senior leadership position, much less one that sets the course for our defense policy,” the combat veteran said in a statement urging the White House to remove Gen. Tata from his post.
She called the move “deeply offensive,” and said it “will have dangerous downstream effects on the lives of servicemembers and their families.”
The bureaucratic maneuver to assign Gen. Tata to a nearly identical role is an end run around the checks and balances of government, the Chairman of the House Armed Services committee said Sunday.
“If an appointment 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,” said Rep. Adam Smith, Washington State Democrat.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, called the move an “insult to our troops, professionals at the Pentagon, the Senate and the American people.”
Committee chairman Sen. James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, stood by the White House’s decision and told reporters in an emailed statement Monday that although he has “always stressed the need to have Senate-confirmed leadership in top Pentagon positions, I believe it is within the president’s authority to appoint D.O.D. officials when and as appropriate.”
Mr. Inhofe, a noted Trump supporter, said the Senate-confirmed roles are “clearly critical positions within the department where a full bench is needed.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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