U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is now expanding his claims to support his eight-month long blockade on more than 300 military promotions, saying he does not care if anyone in America’s Armed Forces gets promoted.
“I’m not changing my mind,” Tuberville said Thursday (video below). “I don’t care if they promote anybody. To be honest, we got 44 four-star generals right now. We only had seven in World War II. So I think we’re a little overloaded to begin with.”
On Monday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tuberville’s “sweeping hold is undermining America’s military readiness.” He also said it is creating a situation for America’s defenses that is “unprecedented,” “unnecessary,” and “unsafe.”
The Alabama Republican Senator began his hold on the promotions back in February, claiming he was taking action to stop every promotion that needed to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in response to the Pentagon’s decision to reimburse service members who need to travel out of state to obtain abortion services and related health care. The policy was enacted after Republicans in many states began to impose bans on abortion.
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But now Tuberville, who infamously was unable to correctly name the three branches of the federal government, is suggesting another reason he is blocking the promotions is because, he alleges, the Senate hasn’t followed the U.S. Constitution since Trump left office.
“I’ve been up there almost three years and the animals are running the zoo after President Trump left office. They haven’t done anything that’s actually gone through the Constitution,” Tuberville on Thursday told former Trump campaign official Kimberly Guilfoyle on her podcast. He offered no proof or examples to support his allegations.
“Everything is circumventing the Constitution. And yes, this is really about the taxpayers having to pay for something to do with abortion. But it’s also has to do with running straight over our Constitution, tearing down everything that this country’s built 247 years. This is just something where we can fight back a little bit to let this White House know, you’re not gonna do this. You’re gonna have to do it the right way. Or take your time.”
“I’m holding these up Kimberly, but I’m really holding up a group at a time. They can bring ’em, Schumer can can do them one at a time and and have all these confirmed. They don’t want to do that. You know, they like it easy, but they don’t want to really admit that they’re wrong here. So we got a weird standstill right now.”
Asked about criticisms that his actions have put national security at risk, remarks that have come as high up as the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Tuberville chuckled and said, “Well, for national security risk, they need to be going back to the old policy and getting our military ready because they’re the ones that can handle that. National security is not a problem here, because you don’t change your position just because somebody’s not promoted. Somebody stays there until the promotion is done.”
Contrary to Tuberville’s claims, the Pentagon has already lost service chiefs for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps.
“The staff chief of the Air Force, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., is expected to leave his post this year,” Forbes reported Monday. “Gen. David W. Allvin has been nominated as his replacement. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley, the country’s highest-ranking military officer, is also required to relinquish his job by October.”
In June, Military.com reported by the end of the year Tuberville’s hold could delay “the vast majority of the 852 total officers at those ranks,” in total, about 650.
Watch a portion of Tuberville’s remarks below or at this link.