Colin Kahl: Biden selected for Pentagon policy lead apologizes for past tweets at confirmation hearing

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The tweets were picked up during the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, called tweet where Kahl said that the “Republican party has gone down at Trump’s altar,” and that it is a party of “ethnic cleansing,” in response to a story about Syria. In a separate tweet, Kahl is charged Republican senators who stood up to former President Donald Trump’s beast of a resolution that would undermine the former president’s ability to support Saudi Arabia in the ongoing conflict in Yemen described “being with the The worst humanitarian crisis in the world in Yemen, ”Cotton said during the hearing.

“Dr. Kahl, this is not about mean tweets or embarrassing seniors, we are all used to harsh criticism here. This is just a small, very small sample of the many unfair and unbalanced opinions you have. directed at people who agree with you on public policy, “Cotton said.

If confirmed, Kahl would serve as defense secretary for policy with a focus on policy issues, working closely with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Republican criticism of Kahl’s tweets comes after the White House withdrew its nomination Neera Tanden to run the Executive Office and Budget earlier in the week. Tanden’s nomination was dragged after several Republican and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia raised concerns about the comments he made and the posts on social media.
“I think this shows that these enormous and intelligent views are not what we are looking for in someone who provides a counseling service within the Department of Defense,” said Seni Joni Ernst. Iowa Republican, citing tweet where Kahl had said that if John Bolton replaced HR McMaster on the National Security Council at the time of the Trump administration “we are all going to die.”

Kahl apologized for what he had said before, saying the language he used in defiance of some Trump policy decisions, including leaving the Iran nuclear deal and The killing of Iran’s top military leader, Qasem Soleimani last year, was “sometimes disrespectful.”

“To put it bluntly, the last few years have been very polar on social media, I’m sure there are times when I’ve been pushed out of there,” Kahl said. There were a number of positions that President Trump accepted that I strongly supported. I think the language I used in opposing those was sometimes disrespectful, and for that I’m sorry. ”

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Kahl said he understands the role he hopes to serve in calling for “impartiality in the Pentagon’s halls” and “bipartisan working with this committee and others in the world.” Transport. ”Kahl said he knows he can do the job professionally because of his previous roles at the Pentagon.

Kahl worked at the Pentagon during the George W. Bush administration in the 2000s and under Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat in Virginia, said he felt that the targeted questions and comments about tweets in the past from Republican senators were more about Kahl’s views on U.S. policy toward Iran than the tweets which he had before.

“I think your nomination is a kind of proxy for sharp difference in this committee and in Congress on the wisdom of the JCPOA, and that is the heart of many of the questions today, “said Kaine, referring to the acronym for Iran ‘s nuclear deal.

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