WASHINGTON—US President Donald Trump on Friday lost another nominee he had put forward to be his Army secretary, after lawmakers said the pick was unfit because of his past stances against transsexuals, Muslims and Latinos.
Mark Green, Republican senator for Tennessee, said in a statement to NBC News he was withdrawing due to “false and misleading attacks against me.”
“My life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain,” he charged.
Green was Trump’s second choice for the post of Army secretary after his first, Vincent Viola, a billionaire, withdrew in February, saying he couldn’t overcome conflict-of-interest objections because of certain financial interests.
Chuck Schumer, head of the Democrats in the US Senate, said Green “should not have been nominated in the first place.”
He cited Green’s record of supporting a law “to make it easier for businesses to discriminate against the LGBTQ community,” for opposing gay marriage, and for believing “being transgender is a ‘disease’.”
Green also “supports constricting access to legal contraception and makes deeply troubling comments about Muslims,” and was thus “the wrong choice to lead America’s Army,” Schumer said in a statement.
Trump, while putting former or current generals in key posts in his administration, has had a hard time in filling politically appointed positions at the Pentagon.
The posts of secretaries of the Navy and the Air Force remain vacant. A number of other senior offices are not yet officially set to be filled.
The Defense Department says several factors are slowing the process down, including notably an extreme political polarization in Congress between unbending Democrats and Republicans.
Strict financial ethics rules are also problematic for candidates.
And then there are internal party conflicts, for instance Trump’s refusal to put forward any Republican who derided him or his ultimately successful run at the White House.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed the conflict in Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on Friday, the State Department said.
Their conversation took place a day after Russia, Iran and Turkey signed a deal setting up four “de-escalation zones” in Syria during talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana. The United States did not take part.
“The Secretary of State spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov today about the efforts to de-escalate the ongoing conflict in Syria,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
Experts are skeptical about Thursday’s Kremlin-brokered deal because neither the Syrian government nor the rebels were direct signatories and the opposition offered only a lukewarm reaction.
Washington gave the deal an extremely cautious welcome, citing concerns about Iran’s role as a guarantor even as it expressed hope the agreement could set the stage for a later settlement.
The United States takes part in separate peace talks under a UN mandate in Geneva, where the rivals have been deadlocked on key issues.
A new round of Geneva talks is set for later this month.
“The secretary looks forward to further meetings with the foreign minister to discuss the respective roles of the United States and Russia in de-escalating the conflict and supporting the talks in Geneva to move the political solution forward,” Nauert said.
More than 320,000 people have died in Syria since the country’s war began with anti-government protests in March 2011.