President-elect Donald Trump on Friday expresses his continued support of Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth in trying to win Senate confirmation, amid allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and financial mismanagement.Â
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well,” Trump posted on social media, as his nominee, also a military veteran, meets with Republican senators on Capitol Hill to try to convince them he’s fit and qualified to lead the U.S. military.Â
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This week, we were reminded again of the 9/11 attacks. First, it was reported that U.S. government lawyers and defense counsel reached a plea deal giving life imprisonment to the high-level al Qaeda prisoners that plotted the attacks. While life imprisonment is undoubtedly a serious punishment, 9/11 was a mass murder that cries out for the death penalty. The lack of proportionality to the offense was striking.
Worse, the family members of 9/11 victims were not given any forewarning or a chance to provide input on this decision, even though the government had promised to do so. They instead received an antiseptic letter explaining what happened after the fact.
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Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has apparently been in the hospital, following complications from a surgery for an unknown ailment. He had the surgery and passed the baton to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, but did not inform the President, the National Security Advisor, and a bunch of other people who should have been kept in the loop.
Worse, Austin’s deputy was apparently on vacation when she was put in charge. This all matters because the military functions through a chain of command, and the Secretary of Defense is a crucial link in that chain, the interface between the uniformed military and the President.
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