Hours after US President Donald Trump said that he would weigh in on his acting navy secretary’s stinging rebuke of an aircraft carrier captain who had raised the alarm over the spread of the coronavirus on his ship, the secretary apologized.
Acting US Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said in a statement on Monday night that he regretted “any confusion this choice of words may have caused,” adding that he wanted to extend his apology to Captain Brett Crozier, “his family, and the entire crew of the [USS] Theodore Roosevelt for any pain my remarks may have caused.”
Crozier was relieved of command by Modly last week after writing a memo pleading for assistance with the coronavirus outbreak on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was sidelined in Guam.
Photo: AP
The memo then found its way into news reports.
On Monday, CNN and other news organizations reported that Modly, in an audio address to the Roosevelt’s crew, said that Crozier was “too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this.”
He also accused the former commander of a “betrayal of trust.”
Several congressional Democrats condemned Modly’s attack and demanded that he resign.
Asked at a White House briefing on Monday evening about his comments, Trump said: “I am going to get involved and see what’s going on there.”
He said that it was “a mistake” for Crozier “to send the letter” and that it showed weakness.
“It’s unfair to the families of the people on the ship,” Trump said.
However, he added: “I’m not looking to destroy a person’s life.”
He said that he had reviewed Crozier’s navy record and “it looks to me like he’s an outstanding guy.”
Trump also praised Modly as a “highly respected man,” and said he would discuss the matter with US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
“I like to solve problems,” the president said. “Maybe we could solve it easily.”
Modly said in his statement that “I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid. I think, and always believed him to be the opposite.”
He called Crozier “smart and passionate,” and said: “I believe, precisely because he is not naive and stupid, that he sent his alarming e-mail with the intention of getting it into the public domain in an effort to draw public attention to the situation on his ship.”
Modly announced the decision to relieve Crozier of command on Thursday last week, criticizing the way he had expressed his concerns and saying that the officer let the stress of the outbreak, which affected more than 100 crew members, “overwhelm his ability to act professionally.”
The memo, which US Navy leaders say was sent via unsecured e-mail and distributed broadly outside the chain of command, “created a little bit of panic on the ship,” and “misrepresented the facts of what was going on on the ship as well,” Modly said. “It raised alarm bells unnecessarily.”
US Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat and navy veteran, said in a statement on Monday that Modly should be dismissed because his “remarks to the crew show that he is in no way fit to lead our navy through this trying time.”
US House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith and Joe Courtney, chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, both Democrats, also called for Modly’s removal.
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