115 Democrats Want to Know if Trump Actually Consulted With the Pentagon Before Announcing Transgender Ban

‘After Consultation With My Generals and Military Experts’ Trump Had Tweeted. But Did He Consult? Did the Pentagon Ask for the Ban?

115 Democratic Congressmen have sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis asking if anyone in the Pentagon actually asked President Donald Trump to ban transgender service members from the U.S. armed forces. As the letter states, back in August the Commander-in-Chief on national television claimed he had been “doing the military a great favor” when he, without warning, called for a complete and total ban of all transgender service members, via Twitter in late July.

Subsequent reporting made clear that Trump had not, in fact “consulted with” his generals, as he claimed on Twitter. Secretary Mattis was on vacation when Trump posted the tweets, and the president had only one day earlier mentioned the ban to him.

Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, drafted the letter to Mattis, as Mother Jones reports.

“When you look at the shock that was evident in the responses from the Pentagon, it would seem there had been no conversation prior to his tweet,” Rep. McEachin told Mother Jones.  

If defense officials did not advise Trump to ban transgender service members prior to the tweets, McEachin says, “it would mean at a minimum that the president of the United States has lied to the American public again,” and “that he is turning his back on the LGBT community.” 

“We have strong concerns about the process by which your ban was created,” McEachin and other Democratic members of the House wrote to Trump in August. “News reports have characterized your ban as a ‘snap decision’ that ‘caught [the Pentagon] off guard.’ Decisions that touch on national security demand careful consideration and responsible debate.”

Rep. McEachin is asking for any documents, emails, telephone or meeting logs, or letters that would show if anyone in the Pentagon asked President Trump for the transgender ban. 

“We seek access to these materials in order to determine whether the president, his national security team, and military leaders are actively coordinating policy with one another, or whether the president’s transgender ban announcement reflected a breakdown in communication,” McEachin’s letter reads.

The transgender ban, it is believed, was the brainchild of Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, not anyone in the Pentagon. In fact, it seems apparent no one in the Pentagon, including top generals and his new Navy Secretary, wants the ban to go into effect in any way, shape, or form. 

Several transgender members of the military and the ACLU, are suing the Trump administration over the ban.

Fully implementing the ban will cost an estimated $960 million.

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are also working together to try to stop the ban.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts,” Trump had tweeted July 26, “please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”

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Image by Ted Eytan via Flickr and a CC license

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