President Trump has nominated Anthony J. Tata, a retired brigadier general with a history of Islamophobic and other inflammatory comments, to a senior Pentagon post in charge of jobs and deployments.
This is the second time Mr. Trump has nominated Mr. Tata, who once called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader,” to a senior job in the Defense Department that requires Senate approval.
In 2020, Mr. Tata withdrew his name from consideration for that job after disclosures of his incendiary comments. Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, canceled Mr. Tata’s confirmation hearing just 30 minutes before it was set to begin.
Mr. Trump then sidestepped the Senate and appointed Mr. Tata to a Pentagon role in an acting capacity.
On Monday, Mr. Trump renewed his bid to put Mr. Tata in a top job at the Pentagon, calculating that this Senate would be more amenable. If confirmed, Mr. Tata would become the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, a job that would make him vital in dismantling diversity programs at the Pentagon, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set out to do.
Mr. Tata endeared himself to Mr. Trump by praising the president on Fox News and criticizing his political opponents.
Mr. Tata promoted conspiracy theories that John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director under Mr. Obama, wanted to remove Mr. Trump from office, even through assassination if necessary.
Mr. Tata also said Mr. Obama and Michelle Obama had engaged in “borderline treasonous” behavior by expressing their dismay over a Trump presidency. He posted on social media that “Islam fuels more terror in the modern day than any other religion or ideology” and that Mr. Obama “is a Muslim” seeking to “support a regime (Mullahs) that sponsors anti West hatred and violence using money US unfroze or gave,” in a reference to Iran.
After the comments gained attention, several senior retired military officers dropped their support for Mr. Tata. Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the former head of the Central Command; Gen. Tony Thomas, the former head of the Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, a former top Air Force general, all asked in June 2020 that their names be removed from a letter backing Mr. Tata’s nomination sent by 36 current and former leaders to the Armed Services Committee.
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