‘We Refer All Questions About the President’s Statements to the White House’
Editor’s note: See updates below.
Earlier Wednesday morning President Donald Trump decreed a new policy via Twitter banning all transgender service members, including active duty currently serving soldiers. The Commander-in-Chief claimed his decision was made in “consultation with my Generals and military experts.”
That’s false.
The Pentagon has issued a statement, in response to a flood of inquiries from journalists and the media.
Basically, it says the Department of Defense has no idea what the Commander-in-Chief is talking about, they were not consulted on this new policy and are wholly unprepared to discharge an estimated 10,000 active duty honorably-serving service members, including some serving overseas in combat.
“We refer all questions about the President’s statements to the White House,” a statement from Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Department of Defense spokesman, reads. “We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military. We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future.â€
The Pentagon Bureau Chief of the Military Times Tara Copp, tweeted a Pentagon spokesperson’s more succinct remarks:
Currently, the Department of Defense’s policy on transgender individuals serving the military, published on the DoD website, states: “Effective immediately, transgender Service members may serve openly, and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military solely for being transgender individuals.”
The Department of Defense is the largest single employer of transgender individuals in the U.S., according to multiple sources.
Sign the petition:Â Tell President Trump You Support Our Transgender Service Members and Oppose His New Ban
President Trump, in his multiple-tweet announcement, cited transition-related surgery as “tremendous,” which is false, but a Trump administration official admitted to Axios that the decision to ban all transgender service members is totally political.
UPDATE I: 11:59 AM EDT –
Trump did not even inform the Senate Armed Services Committee, per this ABC News reporter, and others:
UPDATE II: 12:10 PM EDT –
The Wall Street Journal cites a Defense Dept. official familiar with the matter:
“The tweet was the first we heard about it.â€
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Image: “The Pentagon” by David B. Gleason is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0