Trump nominee hearing cancelled over past remarks

Jonathan Hoffman, Pentagon's chief spokesman, told reporters that retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata continues to work as an viser to Defense Secretary Mark Esper after a Senate committee abruptly canceled his confirmation hearing Thursday.

Senate committee halted controversial former general's mination to a top Pentagon post after a furor over offensive remarks he me about Islam and or inflammatory comments.

" department was looking forward to Gen. Tata having opportunity to share his experience and success leing large public organizations, public sector organizations, and his extensive national security experience with committee today," Hoffman said during a Pentagon briefing.

mination of Tata to be Pentagon's undersecretary for policy was alrey under fire from Senate Democrats, who sent a letter to him this week calling for him to withdraw. Tata, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and a Fox News commentator, has been working in department as a senior viser.

It wasn't clear Thursday if his mination would be withdrawn.

According to media reports, Tata posted tweets in 2018 calling Islam "most oppressive violent religion I kw of," and he called former President Barack Obama a "terrorist leer," and referred to him as Muslim. tweets were later taken down.

committee chairman, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., anunced hearing's cancellation shortly before it was scheduled to start.

Asked if Esper supported Tata's tweets on Islam, Hoffman said, "I stated that he does t believe or support comments he me, he has issued a letter to committee retracting those statements."

During Pentagon briefing officials also discussed with media coronavirus (COVID-19) testing.

Defense Health ncy assistant director for combat support Maj. Gen. Lee Payne, told reporters that department has seen "testing increased fivefold in past three months. And to date, we've conducted over 540000 tests since January."