Senate panel scraps confirmation hearing for controversial Pentagon nominee at last minute

Source: The Hill | July 30, 2020 | Rebecca Kheel

The confirmation hearing for President Trump’s controversial nominee to lead the Pentagon’s policy shop was canceled less than an hour before it was set to begin on Thursday.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said the hearing was canceled because “many” Democrats and Republicans “didn’t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time.”

“We didn’t get the required documentation in time; some documents, which we normally get before a hearing, didn’t arrive until yesterday,” Inhofe said in a statement released about 15 minutes before the hearing had been scheduled to start. “As I told the president last night, we’re simply out of time with the August recess coming, so it wouldn’t serve any useful purpose to have a hearing at this point, and he agreed.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the committee, said in his own statement senators in both parties had “serious questions” about Tata.

“It’s fair to say members on both sides of the aisle have raised serious questions about this nominee,” Reed said. “We had a closed door session on Tuesday, and today’s public hearing has now been cancelled. Chairman Inhofe did the right thing here, and it’s clear this nomination isn’t going anywhere without a full, fair, open hearing.”

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