Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) ratcheted up his feud with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday morning by accusing him of firing military members for racist and sexist reasons.

The progressive lawmaker made the inflammatory accusation during an interview on Face the Nation. Host Margaret Brennan mentioned Hegseth is planning to cut the number of generals and admirals by 20%, before asking if Kelly had any “insight” into who he would fired or if Democrats can “stop it,” if they retake control of Congress after the midterm elections.

“Well, he often fires people because of the color of their skin or because they’re women,” Kelly said.

“He would deny that,” Brennan said.

“Of course he would deny that. I think anybody would deny that,” Kelly continued. “But it’s pretty obvious, when you have a list of seven people who don’t promote from one star to two star and five of ’em are either Black or women, it’s pretty obvious.”

Kelly went on, saying Hegseth has shown a “pattern” of targeting troops based on their race and gender. He pointed to CQ Brown, a Black Air Force General and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, getting fired soon after President Donald Trump returned to the White House as a prime example.

His claims about Hegseth come as the defense secretary has been focused on weeding out DEI initiatives from the military. Hegseth reiterated his plan during a speech last week, saying the Pentagon was no longer the “woke department.” 

“Simple translation of that — no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors. Just tough, ready, committed troops,” Hegseth continued. “The War Department, as you know, is color-blind, gender-neutral, and merit-based.”

He added, “Or, as the president says to me, “Pete, central casting. I want central casting.” The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in, with testosterone testing on top.”

Watch above via CBS.

The post Mark Kelly Accuses Pete Hegseth of Firing People for Racist and Sexist Reasons first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/CNAgfRS