Trump nominee hearing cancelled over past remarks

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

The Senate committee halted the controversial former general's nomination to a top Pentagon post after a furor over offensive remarks he made about Islam and other inflammatory comments.

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

The nomination of Tata to be the Pentagon's undersecretary for policy was already 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 the department as a senior adviser.

It wasn't clear Thursday if his nomination would be withdrawn.

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

The committee chairman, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., announced the 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 not believe or support the comments he made, he has issued a letter to the committee retracting those statements."

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

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