Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan will not move forward with the confirmation process, President Trump says. Trump’s withdrawal of Shanahan as presumptive Defense nominee comes just over an hour after USA Today reported domestic violence allegations.
The FBI is examining a violent domestic dispute from 2010 between acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and his then-wife Kimberley, who have conflicting recollections of the incident.
The American military has operated without a Defense secretary since December and will continue to do so as Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan withdraws from consideration.
The Trump administration had not formally submitted Shanahan’s nomination to the Senate, and President Trump had been asking some people if they had any suggestions for different candidates.
Shanahan put out a statement, “After significant reflection, I have asked to be withdrawn from consideration for Secretary of Defense and will resign my position as Deputy Secretary of Defense.”
“I never laid a hand on my then-wife and cooperated fully in a thorough law enforcement investigation that resulted in her being charged with assault against me—charges which I had dropped…”
According to Yamiche Alcindor, an administration official told her President Trump was aware of the domestic violence incidents involving acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan for some time but declined to say exactly how long. “Trump still supports Shanahan but understands why he withdrew, I’m told.”
There’s a lot of confusion here I see people saying it’s his. Fault then the other part of the story saying he was the one who was abused. But the double standard is definitely coming into play and it’s not right.