Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Retired general reacts to Army secy. Driscoll resigning

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Retired general reacts to Army secy. Driscoll resigning · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What do you make of Secretary Hegseth at this moment?
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: So the Secretary of Defense is proving yet once again
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: that he is a clear and present danger to the
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  Speaker 2: national security of the United States. He single-handedly has purged
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: over 20 senior officers based on gender and race and
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: people that were associated with senior leaders that the president
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: or he disagreed with. He has removed over 45 candidates
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: to be a general and admiral. He has There are
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  Speaker 2: only five four-star generals in the army right now against
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  Speaker 2: 10 vacant, 10 open slots. This is very, very dangerous.
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  Speaker 2: We have a very, very hollow and quite frankly, a
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  Speaker 2: B minus team leading at the top of the military.
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  Speaker 2: These are very capable officers, but not at the level
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  Speaker 2: that they are acting in. And so we are literally
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  Speaker 2: in a much, much more dangerous situation. As an example,
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  Speaker 2: relocating the third core headquarters which is our only third
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  Speaker 2: core heavy capability in Europe that manages armored divisions to what,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: North America? Are we concerned that Mexico is going to
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  Speaker 2: invade us with tanks? This is all because, of course,
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  Speaker 2: President Trump is upset with NATO and he's pulling things
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  Speaker 2: out of there. And unfortunately, the acting secretary, excuse me,
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  Speaker 2: the acting chief of staff of the army is just
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  Speaker 2: doing exactly what this secretary of defense wants him to do.
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  Speaker 2: It's very, very dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: You know, obviously, everything going on with NATO, you end
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  Speaker 1: up with the CIA director going to Moscow and, according
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to the reporting, not getting a good response. So can
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  Speaker 1: I ask you about the resignation of the Army Secretary
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  Speaker 1: Dan Driscoll, the breaking news, right?
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, oversees a.
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  Speaker 1: Million men and women in the Army. This leaves the
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  Speaker 1: Army without any military or civilian confirmed leadership. No secretary
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  Speaker 1: of the Navy either. There have been a lot of
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  Speaker 1: resignations and obviously a lot of people pushed out. So
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: What is your reaction to this breaking news tonight that
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  Speaker 1: Dandraskal's had enough?
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  Speaker 2: It's a crisis of leadership, even within this administration, within
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  Speaker 2: the Department of Defense. And again, it is putting our
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  Speaker 2: young men and women in harm's way unnecessarily. So this
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  Speaker 2: is totally inappropriate. Quite frankly, the Secretary of Defense has
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  Speaker 2: got to go. Even the president deserves a better Secretary
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  Speaker 2: of Defense, not a disgraced major. who is unfortunately in
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  Speaker 2: charge of the largest military in the world. We are
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  Speaker 2: much weaker than we were even before 9-11, unfortunately.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, just a huge statement to say. I know from you,
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  Speaker 1: General Manners.
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  Speaker 3: Elena, what are you hearing about Driscoll's resignation from there today?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Kate, we've actually been reporting on this tension for
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  Speaker 4: roughly a year now. And I would tell you, when
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  Speaker 4: it started, it was almost entirely one-sided. We had reported
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  Speaker 4: that the Defense Department, specifically Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,
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  Speaker 4: did not like the close relationship that the Army Secretary
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  Speaker 4: Dan Driscoll had with the White House. And I'd remind
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  Speaker 4: you that he had a very close relationship with the
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Vice President J.D.
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  Speaker 5: Vance.
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  Speaker 4: As you mentioned, Kate, They were classmates at Yale. And
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  Speaker 4: we know that Driscoll would often go to him and
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  Speaker 4: speak to him privately. But he also had a close
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  Speaker 4: relationship with the president. He came to develop one over
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  Speaker 4: his time here in the second term. And that's something
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  Speaker 4: that frustrated Hegseth. He was distrustful, really, of many people
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  Speaker 4: who had their own relationships with the White House and
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  Speaker 4: the president, and distrustful that perhaps those people were trying
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  Speaker 4: to undermine him. So this is something that has been
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  Speaker 4: going on for quite some time now. And that's exactly
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  Speaker 4: why I think, you know, if you remember the secretary
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  Speaker 4: of the Navy, John Phelan, he was also ousted earlier
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  Speaker 4: this year over similar circumstances. But it did seem, though,
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  Speaker 4: as if Driscoll had a longer shelf life, particularly because
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  Speaker 4: of that close relationship with Vance and others in the
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  Speaker 4: White House who kind of saw him as part of
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  Speaker 4: their inner circle. We know Driscoll was, of course, a
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  Speaker 4: key part of many opportunities. of the insider conversations that
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  Speaker 4: were happening around the Iran war about readiness. And that
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  Speaker 4: is something that Driscoll, we're told, cited when he left,
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  Speaker 4: that he did not feel like military readiness was at
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  Speaker 4: the standard it should be. It was also frustrated, Kate.
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  Speaker 4: over how Hegseth has kind of pushed out some of
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  Speaker 4: the people within the Defense Department and within senior military
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  Speaker 4: positions in recent months who Hegseth felt like wasn't totally
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  Speaker 4: loyal to him and on his side. Now, I will say,
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  Speaker 4: we do know that some of these tensions have grown
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  Speaker 4: to be two-sided, as I mentioned, Driscoll really feeling in
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  Speaker 4: recent months that he would not be able to stay
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  Speaker 4: in his position. But from some of the people we
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  Speaker 4: talked to in the Trump administration, they were hoping that
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  Speaker 4: this would be dragged out a little more, that Driscoll
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  Speaker 4: would remain, particularly, of course, that the U.S. remains at
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  Speaker 4: war with Iran. But it does seem that Driscoll made
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  Speaker 4: the determination that that would be untenable. And I will
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  Speaker 4: say a lot of these tensions were about the gutting
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  Speaker 4: of key military officials that Hegseth has overseen. So, look,
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  Speaker 4: I think the bottom line here, though, is there's seemingly
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  Speaker 4: now kind of this vacuum that is left. They don't
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  Speaker 4: have the Army Secretary Dan Driscoll now anymore. There is
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  Speaker 4: no undersecretary of the Navy. That was John Phelan. And
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  Speaker 4: at a time, of course, when these tensions with Iran
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  Speaker 4: are continuing, and it doesn't seem like the end to
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  Speaker 4: this war is anywhere near in sight. So a lot
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  Speaker 4: to look through when it comes to this departure, Kate.
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  Speaker 5: The Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation. He's
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  Speaker 5: going to be leaving He's someone who has really close
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  Speaker 5: ties to the vice president, J.D. Vance. I believe they
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  Speaker 5: went to Yale together. But it's this frustration, the journal says,
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  Speaker 5: over Hegseth ousting people that the army secretary thought were capable,
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  Speaker 5: competent leaders in the military.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, by all accounts, yes, we've heard the
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  Speaker 3: same thing about Driscoll. And this has, as you said,
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  Speaker 3: this has been anticipated for a while. This has been
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  Speaker 3: being telegraphed that he was going to leave. for some time.
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  Speaker 3: I know there were reports that the White House hadn't
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  Speaker 3: accepted the resignation. I don't know if that's true or not.
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  Speaker 3: But regardless, you are now having no confirmed Army secretary
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  Speaker 3: in the middle of a war, in the middle of
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  Speaker 3: a much more dangerous world than the one that the
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  Speaker 3: president came into when he came into office. What exactly
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  Speaker 3: Hegseth is doing and why he is blocking some of
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  Speaker 3: these folks and firing others, there has been no clear
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  Speaker 3: explanation as to what's going on other than the fact
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  Speaker 3: that we keep hearing he doesn't like certain people for
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  Speaker 3: whatever reason. But, you know, adversaries see that, too. Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: In other news today, when it comes to the president's ballroom,
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  Speaker 5: the Supreme Court seems to have had the final word
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  Speaker 5: on this. I mean, this seems to be the end
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  Speaker 5: of the road. I guess we'll see. It was a
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  Speaker 5: 5-4 decision that came down saying that he could continue shooting.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: constructing the ballroom on the White House grounds. It is
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  Speaker 5: very much still underway if you've seen the pictures of
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  Speaker 5: what it looks like. But what Chief Justice John Roberts
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  Speaker 5: wrote in his dissent stood out to me. He said, quote,
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  Speaker 5: that construction is likely unlawful. He said the White House
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  Speaker 5: is not just any building. In failing to appreciate as much,
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  Speaker 5: the court misconceives the plaintiff's injury, allowing the executive's likely
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  Speaker 5: infringement of the legislature's power of the purse and the
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  Speaker 5: authority to regulate federal property in D.C. to continue. I mean,
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  Speaker 5: even if this is a victory for the president, which
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  Speaker 5: he's already touting, I do wonder what he will say
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  Speaker 5: when the Chief Justice John Roberts says it's probably not
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  Speaker 5: illegal or probably not legal what he's doing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, knowing the president, as we have seen repeatedly,
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  Speaker 3: that any kind of suggestion that his powers should be curtailed,
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  Speaker 3: even if he's succeeding, as he did in this suit
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  Speaker 3: on the issue of standing. often merits a response. I
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  Speaker 3: was surprised that John Roberts dissented here. I know that
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  Speaker 3: I'm not alone. From people I've spoken to, our colleague
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  Speaker 3: Ellie Honig, however, I think predicted that this was going
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  Speaker 3: to be the outcome. This court has ruled on matters
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  Speaker 3: of standing over and over. Sometimes the administration has benefited.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes they haven't. On this one, there is another recourse.
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  Speaker 3: If somebody didn't want to have this ballroom, it would
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  Speaker 3: be that Congress could act. Not that Congress could sue,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: but Congress could take a vote against this. They could
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  Speaker 3: try to stop it. It gets back to this question
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: of how Congress is not exactly being ignored all the time.
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  Speaker 3: They're actually just giving the president their powers.