Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the Defense News Tuesday he is holding up President Donald Trump's Pentagon nominees over lack of details on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We've been holding nominations . . . from the Pentagon to fill in those Pentagon jobs," said McCain, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, during a committee hearing on Afghanistan with Defense Secretary James Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.
"In the six weeks since the president made his announcement, this committee and the Congress, more broadly, still does not know many of the crucial details of this strategy. This is totally unacceptable. I repeat, this is totally unacceptable," McCain said at the committee hearing.
Two of the nominations being held up include Army Secretary nominee Mark Esper and Robert Wilkie, Trump's pick for Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
Trump announced a new Afghan strategy on Aug. 21 that involves sending more than 3,000 additional U.S. troops as advisers to the Afghan military, but the president has offered few details beyond his initial announcement and McCain told the Defense News he has not yet been briefed on what the 3,000 additional troops would be doing in Afghanistan.
"We will not accept a lack of information, a lack of strategy, a lack of coordination with this committee. And there are several methods, thanks to the Constitution, that we have to try to force a change in that relationship," McCain told Mattis and Dunford.
"The Constitution of the United States is something that every one of us raised our hands –– when we were sworn in as United States Senators. aOne of the phrases, 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States' –– not support and defend the president of the United States."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.