Anthony Tata, President Trump’s anti-Muslim pick to be undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, has been handed a policy role at the Defense Department days after the Republican-led Senate abruptly canceled his confirmation hearing. Tata’s hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee was scheduled for last Thursday—but it was pulled moments before it was due to begin as the Senate declined to take up his nomination. The decision followed reports on Tata’s offensive social-media posts in which he called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader,” spread the false claim that Muslims are terrorists, and called a Black congresswoman, Maxine Waters, a “vicious race-baiting racist” for supporting Rodney King, a victim of police violence. Late Sunday, the Defense Department confirmed Tata had been handed a less-senior policy role instead. Rep. Adam Smith, the Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said: “If an appointee cannot gain the support of the Senate, as is clearly the case with Tata, then the president should not put that person into an identical temporary role.”
