A2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, JULY 31 , 2020
HAPPENING TODAYFor the latest updates all day, visit washingtonpost.com.All day | Vi etnam hosts the 53rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting and related meetings through Aug. 5. For
developments, visit washingtonpost.com/world.
9 a.m. | Th e House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
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plan,” with testimony from Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other health officials. Visit
washingtonpost.com/politics for details.
4 p.m. | Th e Washington Wizards play the Phoenix Suns at Visa Athletic
Center in Florida. Follow the game at postsports.com.
CORRECTIONSl The Best Bets feature in today’s
Weekend section, which was
printed in advance, includes
incorrect dates for two events. The
Smithsonian American Art
Museum’s SAAM Arcade will be
Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 1 and
Aug. 2. A Night of Laughs at the
Bullpen will be Thursday, Aug. 6.l The Health Code Violations
listings in the July 30 Local Living
section incorrectly said that the
D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation
Administration closed Kiss Lounge
on July 6. It requested a closure
and referred the matter to the D.C.
attorney general. The lounge was
cited for operating after midnight
in violation of Phase 2 coronavirus
reopening rules, not for operating
after its designated hours.l A July 29 Food article about
water-bath canning incorrectly
said that the food inside the jars
reaches 220 degrees, equalizing the
pressure in the jars. The food
reaches 212 degrees, the same
temperature as the boiling water
around the jars.l A headline with a July 28
A -section article about President
Trump’s lawyers pushing to kill a
grand jury subpoena for his tax
records incorrectly said that they
called the Manhattan district
attorney’s order “wildly
overboard.” It should have said
“wildly overbroad.”Download The
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com to submit questions for our
upcoming speakers.FRIDAY, JULY 31, 11 A.M.A conversation with former New
Jersey governor Chris Christie (R)Hosted by Robert CostaUpcoming Washington
Post Live eventsMISSOURINo charges for officer
in ’14 Ferguson killingSt. Louis County’s top
prosecutor announced Thursday
that he will not charge the former
police officer who fatally shot
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.,a dramatic decision that could
reopen old wounds amid a
renewed and intense national
conversation about racial
injustice and the police treatment
of minorities.
It was nearly six years ago that
a grand jury declined to indict
Darren Wilson, the White police
officer who shot Brown, a Black18-year-old. Civil rights leaders
and Brown’s mother had hoped
that Prosecuting Attorney Wesley
Bell, the county’s first Black
prosecutor, would reopen the
case after he took office in
January 2019.
Bell said his office conducted a
five-month review of witness
statements, forensic reports and
other evidence.
Wilson was never charged and
tried, so double jeopardy was not
an issue. There is no statute of
limitations on filing murder
charges.
The 2014 police shooting
touched off months of unrest in
Ferguson a nd made the St. Louis
suburb synonymous with a
national debate about police
treatment of minorities.
Bell’s predecessor, longtime
prosecutor Bob McCulloch, took
the case to a grand jury. Wilson
resigned days after McCulloch’s
Nov. 24, 2014, announcement that
the grand jury would not indict
the officer.
— Associated PressARIZONACongressman admits
to 11 ethics violationsRep. David Schweikert (R-
Ariz.) has admitted to 11 ethics
violations related to improper
spending and other financialrule-breaking and has agreed to a
$50,000 fine, the House Ethics
Committee announced Thursday.
As part of the deal, the House
will hold a vote on reprimanding
Schweikert, the panel said.
The news deals a blow to the
reelection campaign of
Schweikert, who has been under
investigation since June 2018.
The congressman had previously
blamed some of the alleged
violations on an unintended
“clerical screw-up,” but his
campaign later shifted course and
said Schweikert’s trust in his
former chief of staff, whose
finances had also come under
investigation, had been “grossly
misplaced.”
The chief of staff, Richard
“Oliver” Schwab, left his position
last year.
In a statement, Schweikert’s
office said the congressman is
eager to move on from the matter.
Schweikert is running unopposed
in next week’s Republican
primary in Arizona’s 6th District.
The investigative
subcommittee found that
between July 2010 and December
2017, Schweikert “erroneously
disclosed or failed to disclose” at
least $305,000 in loans or loan
repayments. During that time,
Schweikert’s campaign also failed
to disclose at least $25,000 in
spending.
— Felicia Sonmez and Elise ViebeckDIGESTBY DAN LAMOTHE
AND SEUNG MIN KIMThe nomination of a retired
general for a senior civilian posi-
tion in the Trump administration
was cast into doubt Thursday
when his confirmation hearing
was canceled just before it was
scheduled to begin amid signs
that he did not have enough
Republican votes.
Anthony J. Tata, who was nom-
inated by President Trump to be
undersecretary of defense for pol-
icy, has faced opposition from
Democrats for inflammatory past
remarks that included calling
President Barack Obama a “ter-
rorist leader.” Trump had pressed
the chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee,
James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), for a
hearing, despite rising objections
to Tata’s background.
One defense official familiar
with the process, speaking on the
condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of the issue, said
that once Inhofe and the adminis-
tration figured out late Wednes-
day that Tata did not have the
votes needed, “there was no need”
to go through a difficult hearing.
Tata has served since this
spring as a senior adviser to De-
fense Secretary Mark T. Esper in
an unconfirmed capacity.
Jonathan Rath Hoffman, the
chief Pentagon spokesman, said
Thursday that the Defense De-
partment was looking forward to
Tata having the opportunity to
share his “experience and suc-cess” with the Armed Services
Committee and that he will re-
main with the department as a
senior adviser.
“I have no other personnel an-
nouncements to make right now,”
Hoffman said during a news con-
ference.
The confirmation hearing had
been scheduled for 9:30 a.m., and
notification of its cancellation
was shared with lawmakers be-
fore 8 a.m., according to three
congressional officials, who also
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity because of the sensitivity
of the issue. The committee con-
firmed the cancellation by about
9 a.m., after it was reported by
The Washington Post.
Officials familiar with the mat-
ter expected the White House to
ultimately withdraw Tata’s nomi-
nation — particularly because his
hearing was canceled, not merely
postponed.
Inhofe acknowledged the
change of plans in a statement,
saying he had informed Trump on
Wednesday night.
“There are many Democrats
and Republicans who didn’t
know enough about Anthony Tata
to consider him for a very signifi-
cant position at this time,” Inhofe
said in the statement. “We didn’t
get the required documentation
in time; some documents, which
we normally get before a hearing,
didn’t arrive until yesterday. As I
told the President last night,
we’re simply out of time with the
August recess coming, so it
wouldn’t serve any useful pur-pose to have a hearing at this
point, and he agreed.”
Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the top
Democrat on the committee, said
in a statement after Inhofe’s an-
nouncement that “it’s fair to say
members on both sides of the
aisle” raised “serious questions”
about Tata.
“We had a closed door session
on Tuesday and today’s public
hearing has now been cancelled,”
Reed said. “Chairman Inhofe did
the right thing here, and it’s clear
this nomination isn’t going any-
where without a full, fair, open
hearing.”
Among those who shared
doubts about Tata, a novelist and
frequent Fox News guest who also
has worked in North Carolina
politics, were Sen. Joni Ernst (R-
Iowa), a fellow Army veteran. She
said in an interview Tuesday that
she was “still vetting him” and
that she could not say “I would be
optimistic” about his chances, cit-
ing in part “comments from Io-
wans who are now retired but
have worked with him.”
Inhofe signaled he would sup-
port Tata.
“He’s not a real tactful person,”
Inhofe said Tuesday. “But, of
course, neither am I. Nor is the
president.”
Tata, 60, served in the Army for
28 years, retiring as a brigadier
general in 2009 after an Army
inspector general investigation
found that he had at least two
extramarital affairs during his
career, despite adultery being a
crime in the military. He wouldreplace former undersecretary
John Rood, who resigned in Feb-
ruary after opposing the Trump
administration withholding aid
money to Ukraine, an issue that
was at the center of Trump’s im-
peachment and subsequent ac-
quittal along party lines.
After Trump nominated Tata in
June, CNN surfaced tweets and
comments he had made in inter-
views in which he smeared
Obama and other senior U.S. offi-
cials in conspiratorial terms.
At one point, Tata tweeted in
2018 that Islam was the “most
oppressive violent religion I
know of” and said Obama wanted
to “help Islamic countries more
than any president in history.”
Tata also targeted former CIA
director John Brennan, at one
point telling him that he should
“pick his poison,” including exe-
cution or sucking “on a pistol,”
despite the U.S. government’s
struggle to curb an epidemic of
suicides among service members
and veterans. He included the
hashtag “#treason.”
Tata, who has not responded to
interview requests, apologized in
a letter to senators last month,
saying the remarks “while griev-
ous, are not indicative of who I
am.”
Civil rights leaders and some
lawmakers rejected that apology,
noting that Tata’s inflammatory
remarks were directed at numer-
ous people in both tweets and
interviews.
[email protected]
[email protected]Hearing canceled for controversial Pentagon pick
BY JOHN HUDSONSecretary of State Mike
Pompeo clashed bitterly with
Democrats on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on Thurs-
day in his first visit to the panel in
more than a year.
Lawmakers grilled the nation’s
top diplomat about an array of
issues, including the Trump ad-
ministration’s decision to with-
draw 12,000 troops from Germa-
ny and Pompeo’s firing of the
department’s internal watchdog,
who had been investigating al-
leged wrongdoing by him and his
wife.
The top Democrat on the com-
mittee, Sen. Robert Menendez
(N.J.), said the a dministration
had “abetted” Russian President
Vladimir Putin by withdrawing
the troops from Germany. He also
took aim at the central focus of
Pompeo’s tenure, Iran, noting
that the country “is much closer
to a nuclear bomb than when you
came into office,” and criticized
Pompeo’s “maximum pressure
campaign” for failing to stop
Iran’s aggressive actions in the
Middle East.
Menendez said that for all of
Pompeo’s “bluster against China,”
it has not stopped Beijing’s
“march in the South China Sea” or
its “suppressing and oppressing
its own people” in Hong Kong.
“Under your watch, the United
States has faced setback after set-
back on the world stage, ceding
leverage and influence to our stat-
ed adversaries,” Menendez said.
Pompeo flatly rejected that the
administration had helped Putin
in any way, saying no U.S. admin-
istration in history has beentougher on Russia and boasting
that “300 Russians who were in
Syria” are “no longer on the plan-
et,” in reference to a 2018 skirmish
in Syria that resulted in the Unit-
ed States’ killing of dozens of
Russian military contractors.
“This administration has acted
to protect our interests and our
friends,” Pompeo said in his testi-
mony.
On the U.S. withdrawal in Ger-
many, which President Trump
has complained has not paid its
fair share for its own defense,
Pompeo noted that U.S. troops
would be moved to other areas in
Europe, including closer to Rus-
sia’s border. U.S. forces will move
to Italy, Belgium and back to the
United States, according to the
Pentagon.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
noted that Russia was the only
country that “publicly supported”the removal of troops. Pompeo
responded that the U.S. troops
would be “fully available” to be
redeployed if needed, and noted
the Kremlin was irritated that
some troops would be moved
closer to the Russian border.
In underscoring his knowledge
of the issue, Pompeo said, “I
fought on the border of East Ger-
many” during his service in the
Army during the Cold War. Sha-
heen shot back, noting that “your
unit is coming back to the United
States” as a result of the policy
change.
Menendez asked Pompeo if he
pressed Russian officials about
allegations that Moscow offered
bounties to the Afghan Taliban to
kill U.S. and coalition soldiers
there. Pompeo refused to say if he
specifically brought up that alle-
gation but said he broadly raises
U.S. concerns with his Russiancounterparts on a regular basis.
This week, Trump told an Axios
reporter that he did not raise the
bounty issue in his discussions
with Putin because he questioned
the intelligence.
Pompeo also acknowledged
that he recommended that the
State Department’s internal
watchdog be fired. The inspector
general, Steve Linick, was looking
into allegations that Pompeo and
his wife, Susan, inappropriately
had staff and diplomatic security
do personal chores for them, such
as picking up takeout and other
errands, and whether Pompeo
improperly pushed through arms
sales packages to Saudi Arabia
over the objections of Congress.
Pompeo denied any knowledge
of Linick’s investigations, with
the exception of the Saudi arms
probe, but said that wasn’t the
motivation for his decision.
Republicans broadly defended
the Trump administration’s re-
cord on foreign policy, with the
exception of Sen. Mitt Romney
(Utah), who criticized Trump’s
“fawning praise” of Chinese Presi-
dent Xi Jinping and the troop
withdrawal in Germany. Romney
said he had heard “from the high-
est levels of the German govern-
ment” that the decision was seen
as an insult to an important ally.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) asked
Pompeo about the appropriate-
ness of Trump’s suggestion on
Twitter on Thursday that the U.S.
presidential election in Novem-
ber should be delayed. Pompeo
declined to say if that would be
illegal or wrong, merely noting
that the election “should happen
lawfully.”
[email protected]Pompeo, lawmakers clash over troop withdrawal
GREG NASH/POOL/REUTERS
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testifies Thursday t o the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, for the first time in more than a year.Build With AName You Trust*Excludes repairs. Not valid on previous orders or in combination with other off ers, orders or discounts.
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