https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlUJIyDd6IA
May 8, 2025
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) slammed President Trump’s firings of military officers.
Transcript
um Senator Duckworth thank you Mr
chairman well one thing that has no
place in our military is the promotion
of people um and the firing of people
based on perceived political loyalty um
and I know we've talked about this at at
length already during his hearing but in
light of the Secretary of Defense um uh
uh statement yesterday where he plans on
uh firing 20% of the general officer the
flag officer ranks and since you're
going to be if confirmed in the role to
advise on this I think it's important
that we revisit this in fact the Trump
administration has shown a troubling
pattern of not only suddenly purging
highly qualified general officers but
also of advancing other officers based
solely on perceived political loyalty
despite those officers lacking the
qualifications for the jobs to which
they're being promoted choosing military
leadership based on partisan criteria is
unamerican and it puts our military
readiness and public trust at risk it is
an affront to the great meritocracy that
our military has represented until this
administration mr tara if confirmed
would you carry you would carry the
solemn responsibility of safeguarding
the readiness talent and professionalism
of our men and women in uniform
including the very important role of
overseeing the conditions and standards
under which service members can advance
in their careers but I have concerns
that you support the removal of senior
military leaders that you consider you
consider to be woke or politically
misguided officers who by all accounts
were carrying out lawful orders and
policies of a past administration would
you have supported firing general
general Timothy Hoff cyber com cybercom
commander and NSA director who had over
33 years of experience in the air force
uh Senator I don't know the individual i
wasn't involved in the firing and I
really have no comment on that
um well yes or no i mean there was no
investigation into him there was no
wrongdoing accusing was just simply
fired by this president
the senator I I have no uh ability to
comment on it because I don't know the
individual i don't know the
circumstances involved i didn't know if
there was an investigation or not all
right would you have supported firing
Admiral Lisa Francetti former chief of
naval operations with over 40 years of
decorated service in the United States
Navy and no investigation on any
wrongdoing on her part senator I have no
information on that uh firing and I I
simply cannot comment on that okay um
you just under oath confirmed that you
support the Trump administration's
reckless purchase i mean you're saying
you have no no comments but these are
two examples of the Trump
administration's disturbing pattern of
suddenly firing expert warriors at the
top of their game disrupting our
national security for political gain
trump has not justified these sudden
vacancies in mission critical roles were
they fired simply because they followed
their oath and executed a previous
civilian leader policy do I have your
commitment that you will not support
firing general officers simply for
executing lawful policies of a past
administration that should be an easy
one yes or no uh Senator you have my
commitment that u we will have a if
confirmed meritocracy that focus on
promoting based on high standards
do I have your commitment that you will
not support firing general officers
simply for executing lawful policies of
a past administration
senator you're asking me to ask a
hypothetical where there could be other
extinuating
hypothetical other extenduating
circumstances i said simply for
executing lawful policies if there was
nothing else
would you fire someone there would be no
there would be no reason to fire anyone
if they're simply following uh lawful
orders okay do I have your commitment
that you will not use officer's record
of executing policies or their personal
beliefs as promotion criteria either
formally or informally
senator again uh it's a hypothetical
situation you're presenting to me the uh
focus of the department uh if confirmed
will be on meritocracy and promoting
those that are most lethal that provides
us the greatest war fighting force that
our young men and women deserve so their
record of executing policies that this
administration may not agree to but were
legal lawful auth policies from a
previous administration or a person's
personal pol um uh personal beliefs will
not be used as criteria to either
promote or not promote them senator I
would see no reason to have any of that
uh play into the promotion uh the the uh
system that the secretary is attempting
to implement is one based on meritocracy
and high standards and and uh if
confirmed I I look forward to working
with this body and uh the the secretary
on uh ensuring that we have the most
capable leaders for that that our young
men and women deserve i hope you live up
to that because practices like firing
officers for following lawful orders uh
put servant members in an impossible
position fearful that they'll be
punished whether they do or do not
fulfill their professional obligations
and more importantly politicizing
promotions and firings have a corrosive
effect on our military and on our
ability to deter and prepare for
conflict so I hope that you will live by
that statement thank you Senator
Duckworth
