White House Intends to Withdraw Controversial Pentagon Nominee: Report

The White House reportedly plans to withdraw its nomination for Retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to become the Department of Defense’s undersecretary of defense for policy following reports that Tata made Islamophobic comments and promoted conspiracy theories, according to CNN. The Senate Armed Services Committee had been scheduled to hold Tata’s nomination hearing Thursday morning, but the hearing was canceled. The position he had been up for is the third-most powerful Pentagon position. Tata previously called President Barack Obama a “Muslim” and “terrorist leader, called Islam the “most oppressive violent religion I know of,” and called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and California Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) “violent extremists.” He later apologized for the tweets and retracted his statements on Islam in a letter to Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe and Ranking Member Jack Reed.