Trump Pressed to Fill Top Pentagon Job With Iran Tension Brewing
Trump Pressed to Fill Top Pentagon Job With Iran Tension Brewing
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump faces pressure to choose a new Pentagon chief quickly amid rising tensions with Iran, but the abrupt and messy withdrawal of his previous pick, Patrick Shanahan, has raised questions about the rigor of the administration’s vetting process.
Senators said they were blindsided Tuesday when Shanahan took his name out of consideration after reports about domestic violence episodes in his family. Trump later told reporters he learned about the 2010 events only on Monday.
Trump said he will name Army Secretary Mark Esper as acting defense secretary, as the Pentagon enters its seventh month without a Senate-confirmed leader. Even if Trump formally nominates Esper -- as he said he’s “most likely” to do -- the vetting and confirming process could drag on for weeks if not months.
Lawmakers were already grappling with Trump’s plan to send 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East in response to an attack on two tankers in the Persian Gulf, which the administration attributed to Iran. The leadership turmoil casts new uncertainty on the question of who’s in charge of orchestrating U.S. military strategy in the fast-moving situation.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina and one of Trump’s closest allies, on Tuesday openly discussed retaliating with a U.S. strike on Iranian oil facilities and said the Defense Department must have a Senate-confirmed leader with such serious decisions on the table.
“We need a permanent secretary of defense to help guide the department through budget negotiations and conflicts,” Graham said. “I would encourage the president to find someone quickly to send to the Senate.”
‘Unfortunate Circumstance’
But that need for speed may conflict with a demand for more thorough vetting -- by the FBI, the Trump White House and senators. Lawmakers questioned how conflicting allegations of domestic violence between Shanahan and his ex-wife took so long to surface and escaped those supposedly rigorous investigations when the Senate Armed Services Committee recommended Shanahan as deputy defense secretary and the full Senate confirmed him on a 92-7 vote in 2017.
“I’m at a loss sometimes at how some of these things don’t come out sooner in a vetting process,” said Senator John Thune, the No. 2 Republican. “It’s just a really unfortunate circumstance.”
While Trump never formally submitted Shanahan’s nomination, this isn’t the first time Trump’s picks have faltered, although none of the posts were as important as the defense secretary, who oversees an annual budget of more than $700 billion and war-and-peace decisions.
Trump chose his personal physician, Ronny Jackson, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, only to see allegations of workplace mismanagement surface. Andrew Puzder, the would-be secretary of labor, was pulled after reports that he employed an undocumented housekeeper. Former State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert’s bid to become ambassador to the United Nations was withdrawn after she acknowledged hiring a nanny who lacked a proper work visa.
Dozens of other lower-level candidates across the administration withdrew from appointments after damaging information came to light. Several of Trump’s picks for the Federal Reserve Board faced opposition from senators who warned that they would face a difficult path to confirmation.
Esper has the advantage of already being confirmed 89-6 for his current role as Army secretary. But his past is sure to get a fresh vetting now.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, suggested the administration may have withheld the information about domestic violence in Shanahan’s household and called for an investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general.
“I feel that there was possibly a deliberate concealment here,” Blumenthal said. “There is absolutely no reason for a failure to disclose to the Armed Services Committee as a part of our process that there was something in this nominee’s past, Patrick Shanahan’s past, that was deliberately concealed or mistakenly covered up.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the revelations showed a breakdown in the administration’s investigation of its own nominees.
“The vetting should always be top-notch,” Schumer said. “When they try to rush nominees through and not give us all the information, it makes vetting that much harder.”
Iran Tensions
The Senate is expected to vote on amendments to the annual defense policy bill on the Senate floor this week and next, providing a forum for senators to debate possible military action in Iran.
While most Republicans said they support Trump’s current approach to Iran, they urged the administration to include diplomatic avenues to de-escalate tensions and warned against unilateral action.
Esper previously served as an aide to former Senator Bill Frist, giving him a foundation of experience and relationships on Capitol Hill. He also was an executive with Raytheon Co., which United Technologies Corp. now plans to buy to create an aerospace and defense giant with $74 billion in sales. Like Shanahan, a former Boeing Co. vice president, Esper would be expected to recuse himself from decisions on contracts involving his former employer.
Republicans were quick to praise Esper’s qualifications. Graham said he would vote for Esper “without equivocation,” and Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she’s “been a big fan of Mark Esper.”
The Democratic-led House wouldn’t be involved in Esper’s confirmation, but House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith praised his record of “public service both as a soldier and in government.” Smith emphasized the need for a steady hand on national defense strategy that’s “insulated” from political considerations. Shanahan was sometimes criticized as too eager to support Trump’s policies, including his dispatch of military troops to the border with Mexico.
“Our national defense needs a confirmed Secretary of Defense as soon as possible,” Smith said in a statement. “We face a number of extremely complicated challenges around the globe, and it is in our best interest as a country to have stable, predictable leadership at the Pentagon capable of withstanding internal political pressure.”
--With assistance from Laura Litvan, Daniel Flatley, Ari Natter and Glen Carey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Larry Liebert
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