Democratic Sen. Reed: Trump's Pentagon purge is attempt to politicize the military
Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that President Donald Trump's Friday night purge of senior Pentagon leaders is a threat to the nonpartisan nature of the military.
"It was completely unjustified. These men and women were superb professionals. They were committed to their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. And, apparently, what Trump and [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth are trying to do is to politicize the Department of Defense, and it's not surprising they put Kash Patel as the FBI director, who is a partisan, who has no, I think, respect for the traditions of neutrality of the FBI," Reed said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
"And, now they've turned to DOD, and they want everyone in DOD beholden to the president, not to the Constitution," he said. "They want everyone there to do what they're told, regardless of the law."
Trump fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown in a controversial move Friday evening. In addition to Brown, the administration fired other senior officials, including the Navy's top admiral, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti.
It was the first time two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have had their roles terminated.
In a social media post, Trump said he was nominating retired Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs, which will have to be confirmed by the Senate.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a group of senior uniformed leaders who serve as the top military advisers to the president and Department of Defense officials. The Joint Chiefs of Staff was created with the idea of it being apolitical. By design, officers' four-year terms intersect two presidents.
Reed said the purge degraded the military, especially the firing of three top military lawyers.
"What was also startling in the weekend was firing all the advocate generals of the military. If you're going to break the law, the first thing you do is you get rid of the lawyers. So we're looking at a very dangerous undermining of the values of our military, and the repercussions are being felt already," he said. "People questioning whether they should say, talented leaders, wondering if they should get out. It is, it's, the beginning of a very, very serious degradation of the military and politicization of the military."
Retired Gen. George Casey Jr., a former U.S. Army chief of staff who served under former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, pointed out that Brown's dismissal could leave the United States vulnerable.
"That's extremely destabilizing at a time that there's a lot going on domestically and a lot going on abroad. When you remove so many senior leaders, especially without justifying and giving due cause, it creates huge uncertainty in the ranks, and it just isn't a good thing for the military at a very difficult time," Casey said.
Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said they would remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the military and Hegseth alluded that Brown's firing was because of his involvement in those initiatives.
"That's a problem for me, because these leaders were following the lawful directives of the civilian leaders of the past administration, and now we're going to put leaders in jeopardy and punish them for following lawful orders from another administration. I mean, give me a break," Casey said.
However, despite his disapproval of the administration's action, Casey said that Trump acted within his rights as president. He added that the firings should have been explained better.
"I may disagree with the timing and everything of these, of these removals, but it's purely, it is significantly within the president's prerogative. That's his, that's his prerogative. He is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and we follow the directives of, the, our civilian leaders," Casey said.
