Trump says he will replace acting defense chief Patrick Shanahan

CLOSE

In response to attacks on oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Iran is not just a U.S. problem. He said the U.S. goal is to “build international consensus to this international problem.” (June 14)
AP

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was replacing Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. He made the announcement in an early-afternoon tweet. 

The announcement injects uncertainty into the highest echelon of the national security system at a time of escalating tensions with Iran that have left the Pentagon preparing for a possible military confrontation. The Trump administration ordered another 1,000 U.S. troops deployed to the region on Monday after attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman for which it blames Iran. 

Shanahan, who has been the acting defense chief since January, had been Trump’s choice to be his new defense secretary. In the tweet, Trump said Shanahan was leaving to spend more time with his family. Shanahan’s spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, confirmed that Shanahan was stepping down.

The move came about an hour after USA TODAY published a story revealing that the FBI had been investigating a violent 2010 fight between Shanahan and his then-wife. 

More: FBI examining 2010 domestic fight involving acting defense secretary Shanahan; accounts differ on aggressor

Both Shanahan and his former wife, who now goes by the name Kimberley Jordinson, acknowledged in court filings and police reports that a late-night argument spilled from their bedroom to the front yard of their home in an affluent Seattle neighborhood and escalated into a clash that police said left him with a bloodied-nose and hand and her with blood stains – possibly from offensive moves – on her forearm.

But their accounts diverge sharply on who was to blame, as well as the claim Jordinson reported to officers that night and later outlined in divorce papers: that Shanahan punched her in the stomach. Shanahan, in a statement to USA TODAY, denied that he had ever struck his wife. 

Trump said in April that he planned to make Shanahan his permanent defense chief, putting him in command of the military’s 2 million active and reserve troops and 700,000 civilians at a time when the service at a time when it was struggling to confront longstanding problems with violence against women. The White House had not formally submitted his nomination to the Senate.

Trump selected Shanahan as the Pentagon’s second-in-command in 2017, his first government posting after a career as an engineer and top executive at Boeing, a major defense contractor. The decision put Shanahan in one of the government’s top national security positions, though one where his personal life remained mostly unexamined. Trump elevated Shanahan to be acting defense secretary after Jim Mattis resigned in December in protest of Trump’s treatment of allies and abrupt decisions to withdraw U.S. forces from the Middle East.

The Pentagon has been without a permanent leader since January, complicating the administration’s efforts to build support among foreign and U.S. leaders as it deals with Iran and other security issues. Shanahan, 56, already is the longest serving acting defense chief in modern history, and his withdrawal means it will likely take the administration longer to fill the job. 

Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~/603227658/0/usatodaycomwashington-topstories~Trump-says-he-will-replace-acting-defense-chief-Patrick-Shanahan/