Trump administration fires top US general and Navy chief in unprecedented purge of military leadership
In an unprecedented purge of the military's senior leadership Friday night, President Donald Trump fired the top US general just moments before his defense secretary fired the chief of the US Navy and others.
In announcing the dismissal, Trump called Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown a 'fine gentleman' and an 'outstanding leader.' Brown is only the second Black man to serve as chairman and was the first Black service chief in US military history when he was confirmed as chief of the Air Force in 2020.
The president hinted at the firings to come in the announcement on his Truth Social platform. 'Finally, I have also directed [Defense] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth to solicit nominations for five additional high level positions, which will be announced soon,' he wrote.
Minutes later, Hegseth released a statement in which he fired Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of the Navy and the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In his 2024 book titled 'The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,' Hegseth called Franchetti a 'DEI hire.'
'If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high. Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray,' he wrote.
Hegseth also said that Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force, had been fired, and that he was 'requesting nominations' for the Judge Advocates General for the Army, Navy and Air Force, indicating they will be replaced.
'Under President Trump, we are putting in place new leadership that will focus our military on its core mission of deterring, fighting and winning wars,' Hegseth said Friday night.
Hegseth has previously railed against the military's Judge Advocates General (JAG), calling them 'jagoffs' in his book. When pressed during his recent confirmation hearing to explain himself, Hegseth said, 'It would be a JAG Officer who puts his or her own priorities in front of the warfighters – their promotions, their medals, in front of having the backs of those who are making the tough calls on the front line.'
The JAGs are the military's top lawyers who administer the military code of justice, including defending and prosecuting US service members in military court.
The firings had been anticipated for weeks, with rumors about the impending dismissal circulating around the Pentagon. But speculation about the termination of Brown and others became more serious when a formal list was recently shared with some Republican lawmakers.
Trump has railed against what he called 'woke' generals and officers, and Brown was a frequent target of right-wing criticism. Many officials in the Pentagon openly wondered whether Brown would be fired quickly after Trump's inauguration.
But Trump and Brown were pictured next to each other at the Army-Navy football game in December, signaling a potential warming of relations between the two men. In his first term, Trump appointed Brown to the Chief of the Air Force, a position he held until former President Joe Biden nominated him to be the Joint Chiefs Chair in October 2023. Brown's term was scheduled to end in 2027.
Hegseth had also called for Brown's termination. In November, just days before Trump picked Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth said, 'First of all, you've got to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.'
But the two routinely met and worked together since Hegseth's confirmation.
Trump announced the firing of the top US general on the day Brown visited the southwest border, one of the Pentagon's top priorities under the new administration. Brown met with the Joint Task Force North, which leads the military's border mission.
'Border Security has always been critical to the defense of our homeland,' Brown posted on social media in the hours before he was fired.
On social media, Trump said he would nominate Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan 'Razin' Caine to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an extraordinary move since Caine is retired, according to an Air Force official, and is not a 4-star general.
Trump said Caine was a 'warfighter' who was 'instrumental in the complete annihilation of the ISIS caliphate.'
Federal law requires the president to pick the top military officers from the combatant commands or the chiefs of the military services, all of which are 4-star positions. But the law also allows the President to waive the requirement if 'such action is necessary in the national interest.'
Trump has raved about Caine for years, dating back to his first term. At the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said he met Caine during a visit to Iraq. Caine was then serving as the deputy command for US Special Operations in the Middle East and Operation Inherent Resolve, the ongoing campaign to defeat ISIS.
Trump said Caine came from 'central casting' and said he could have the campaign to eliminate ISIS 'totally finished in one week.' Trump says Caine told him, 'They won't know what the hell hit them, sir.'
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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Newsweek
11 minutes ago
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Hamilton Spectator
14 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
It's the economy, estúpido: New Jersey governor's race tests Democrats' efforts to win back Latinos
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There's nobody that has an absolute inside track.' —- Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
20 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
It's the economy, estúpido: New Jersey governor's race tests Democrats' efforts to win back Latinos
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A congresswoman and former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot secured the endorsement of the highest-ranking Hispanic official in her state. A mayor highlighted his arrest by immigration officials. A congressman campaigned at a Latino supermarket. And another mayor decided to put his self-taught Spanish to use on the trail. The New Jersey gubernatorial primary has emerged as a crucial test for Democrats seeking to regain Latino support nationally. It highlights the challenges in traditionally blue areas where the party's loss of support among Hispanics in 2024 was even more pronounced than in battleground states. President Donald Trump slashed Democratic margins in New Jersey and New York, even flipping some heavily Latino towns he had lost by 30 and 50 percentage points in 2016. The Democratic primary for governor features an experienced field of current and former officeholders: U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, New Jersey Education Association president and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney. Although Trump made closing U.S. borders a central promise of his campaign, his economic message hit home with Latinos. More Hispanics saw inflation as the most important concern last fall than white voters, AP VoteCast showed. That lesson has been taken to heart in this year's campaign, with strategists, unions, organizers and politicians pivoting away from immigration and putting pocketbook concerns at the forefront of their appeals. 'At the end of the day, if you're worried about paying your bills and being safe at night, everything else is secondary,' Rep. Gottheimer said in an interview. 'I think that is front and center in the Latino community.' Warning signs for Democrats Laura Matos, a Democratic National Committee member from New Jersey and board member of Latina Civic Action, said the party is still finding its way with Hispanic voters, warning that support can't be taken for granted even when Democrats win most of it. While there was a big rightward swing among Hispanics in Texas and Florida in 2024, it was similarly pronounced in blue states like New Jersey and New York. Here, 43% of Latino voters supported Trump, up from 28% in 2020. In New York, 36% of Latino voters supported Trump, up from 25% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. Understanding that all Latino voters don't think or vote alike helps. Compared to the 2020 election, Trump gained significantly with Dominican voters, where he went from 31% to 43% of support. Of the 2 million Latinos in New Jersey, more than 375,000 are Dominican, making up the second largest Hispanic group in New Jersey, after Puerto Ricans, a group where Trump also increased his support from 31% to 39%, the survey showed. But sometimes candidates overthink such targeted appeals. 'The November election results in parts of New Jersey should serve as a big warning sign that Democrats need to think about how they're communicating with some of these voters,' Matos said. Sherrill's campaign manager acknowledged in a memo to supporters last month that 'there is a real risk of a Republican winning in November." New Jersey tilts Democratic in presidential and Senate elections, but Republicans have won the governorship in recent decades. Focusing on the economy Strategists, organizers, union leaders and some candidates agree that what they are hearing from Latinos is consistent with the concerns of other working class voters. Ana Maria Hill, of Colombian and Mexican descent, is the New Jersey state director of the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, where half of the members are Hispanic. Hill says raising the minimum wage and imposing new regulations to cap rent increases are popular among those she has been calling to support Newark Mayor Baraka. She says Democrats lost ground by not acknowledging real-world struggles that hit Latinos hard after inflation spiked following the pandemic. 'I think where we lost voters last year was when workers asked 'What's going on with the economy?' We said 'the economy is great.' And it could be true, but it's also true that eggs cost $10, right? It's also true that a gallon of milk costs $6.' Taking that lesson to heart, Gottheimer held a press conference at a Latino supermarket in Elizabeth, a vibrant Latino hub south of Newark, against a backdrop of bottles of a corn oil used in many Hispanic kitchens. Sherrill headed to a Colombian restaurant, also in Elizabeth, on Saturday for a 'Get Out the Vote' rally. One of her advisers, Patricia Campos-Medina, a labor activist who ran for the U.S. Senate last year, said candidates who visit Latino businesses and talk about the economic challenges the way Sherrill has done show they get it. 'She has a message that covers a lot of big issues. But when it comes to Latinos, we've been focusing on the economy, affordable housing, transportation, and small business growth,' Campos-Medina said. When state Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz, the state's highest-ranking Hispanic official, endorsed Sherrill last week, she cited her advocacy for affordable child care directly, for instance. A candidate's arrest Trump's four months in office have been defined by his aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration. That gave Baraka a chance to seize the spotlight on a non-economic issue as an advocate for immigrant residents in Newark. He was arrested while trying to join an oversight tour of a 1,000-bed immigrant detention center. A trespass charge was later dropped, but he sued interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba over the dropped prosecution last week. 'I think all this stuff is designed to be a distraction,' he said recently. 'But I also think that us not responding is consent. Our silence is consent. If we continue to allow these people to do these things and get away with it, right, they will continue to do them over and over and over again.' In one of his final campaign ads in Spanish, he used footage from the arrest and the demonstrations to cast himself as a reluctant warrior, with text over the images saying he is 'El Único,' Spanish for 'the only one,' who confronts Trump. Confident Republicans Former state assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is making his third bid for governor, and Trump's backing may help. But Chris Russell, a Ciattarelli campaign consult, said Democrats' habit of misreading of Latino voters might matter more. 'Democrats believe the key to winning these folks over is identity politics.' He added: 'They're missing the boat.' Ciattarelli faces four challengers for the GOP nomination in Tuesday's primary. During a telephone rally for Ciattarelli las week, Trump called New Jersey a 'high-tax, high-crime sanctuary state," accusing local officials of not cooperating with federal immigration authorities. But Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, another contender for the Democratic nomination, said he is not entirely convinced the Democratic party will keep losing support in New Jersey. He thinks the gubernatorial race will be a referendum on current Gov. Phil Murphy. Immigration and the economy may enter some Hispanic voters' thinking, but how that plays out is anybody's guess. 'The Latino community is two things in New Jersey. It is growing significantly, and it is a jump ball. There's nobody that has an absolute inside track.' —-
