The hearing for Anthony Tata, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the undersecretary of defense for policy, was canceled on Thursday.
Tata, a retired Army brigadier general, had been expected to face a tough hearing after CNN reported that he made multiple Islamophobic and offensive comments and also promoted conspiracy theories.
"There are many Democrats and Republicans who didn't know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time,” CNN quoted Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"We didn't get the required documentation in time; some documents, which we normally get before a hearing, didn't arrive until yesterday. As I told the president last night, we're simply out of time with the August recess coming, so it wouldn't serve any useful purpose to have a hearing at this point, and he agreed."
In 2018, Tata tweeted that President Barack Obama was a "terrorist leader." He said Islam is the "most oppressive violent religion I know of." He called Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a "vicious race baiting racist" and said she and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "have always been the same violent extremists.”
He later apologized. But a letter released Monday from 10 Senate Democrats urged Tata to remove his name from the nomination list.
And CNN reported at least 51 advocacy groups have condemned the nomination.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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