Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is blocking the promotion of an Army general over concerns about his role in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s mysterious hospitalization, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
Tuberville is singlehandedly stonewalling the nomination of Lt. Gen. Ronald P. Clark, a senior aide to Austin, to the position of four-star commander of the Army, a spokesperson for Tuberville told the DCNF. The senator is doing so because he reportedly has concerns over Clark’s supposed role in helping Austin keep secret his late 2023 and early 2024 hospitalization from the White House, the spokesperson said.
Tuberville’s move is reminiscent of his now-infamous strategy throughout 2023, in which he blocked hundreds of high-level military promotions out of protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
“Sen. Tuberville has concerns about Lt. Gen. Clark’s actions during Secretary Austin’s hospitalization,” Tuberville spokesperson Mallory Jaspers told the DCNF.
Austin underwent a procedure in late 2023 due to issues stemming from a prostate cancer diagnosis, which created its own set of complications that forced him to go into intensive care at the end of the year, where he stayed until early January. The Defense Secretary chose to withhold that information from the public and the White House; Clark learned of Austin’s hospitalization on Jan. 2 but did not disclose that information to the White House until they learned about it two days later.
Austin and Clark, among others who knew, faced heavy scrutiny for their decision to hide the hospitalization from the White House and the public. Austin has since publicly apologized for the incident.
“Lt. Gen. Clark knew that Sec. Austin was incapacitated and did not tell the Commander in Chief. As a senior commissioned officer, Lt. Gen. Clark’s oath requires him to notify [President Joe Biden] when the chain of command is compromised,” Jaspers told the DCNF.
Senate rules dictate that a single senator can delay military promotions through objection, upsetting a usually routine and quick process to promote military members in batches of nominations through unanimous consent. Though the Senate can still clear these nominations through single promotion votes, it is a much more laborious and time-consuming process.
Tuberville stonewalled over 400 military promotions throughout 2023, citing his disapproval of the Biden Pentagon’s policy to reimburse servicemembers if they have to travel out of state for an abortion. He eventually dropped his months-long blockade at the end of 2023.
“Lt. Gen. Clark is highly qualified and was nominated for this critical position because of his experience and strategic expertise,” a Pentagon spokesperson told the DCNF. “We urge the Senate to confirm all of our qualified nominees. These holds undermine our military readiness.”
Tuberville stonewalled over 400 military promotions throughout 2023, citing his disapproval of the Biden Pentagon’s policy to reimburse servicemembers if they have to travel out of state for an abortion. He eventually dropped his months-long blockade at the end of 2023.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include comment from the Pentagon.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/ABC 7 News)
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