Trump tried to blame the former captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for the coronavirus infection on his ship and then admitted that he fired him for writing a letter.
Trump said:
I don’t know much about it. Here we have one of the greatest ships in the world, nuclear aircraft carrier, incredible ship with thousands and thousands of people and you had about 120 that were infected. I guess the captain stopped in Vietnam, people got off in Vietnam. Perhaps you don’t do that in the middle of a pandemic. History would say you don’t necessarily stop and let your sailors get off, number one.
But more importantly, he wrote a letter was a five-page letter from a captain and the letter was all over the place. That’s not appropriate. I don’t think that’s appropriate. And these are tough people. These are tough, strong people. I thought it looked terrible to be honest with you. Now they made their decision. I didn’t make their decision. Secretary of defense was involved and a lot of people were involved. I thought it was terrible what he did, to write a letter? I mean, this isn’t a class on literature.
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This is a captain of a massive ship that’s nuclear powered and he shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter. He can call and ask and suggest but he stopped in Vietnam, a lot of people got off the boat, they came back and they had infections and I thought it was inappropriate for the captain of a ship to do — I don’t want to comment as to whether or not but I agree with their decision.
Video:
Trump admits that he fired the Captain of the USS Teddy Roosevelt for writing a letter instead of calling. pic.twitter.com/Sis7Aj0HCn
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 4, 2020
Captain Brett Crozier was fired by Trump after he wrote a letter pleading for help for sailors who were trapped on a ship that had been infected with the coronavirus. Instead of springing into action and defending the sailors that he claims to love, Trump fired the captain and then tried to smear him at a White House press briefing.
Trump loves the military until they make him read.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
