Hexeth, well, since he started, he's continuing to block minorities from getting advanced rank in the US military. Put it up full mass, we got an update. Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen black and female senior [00:00:21] officers across all four branches of the US military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race. their gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration [00:00:36] policies or officials, according to nine US officials familiar with the process. I wanna remind everybody that it was Hegseth uh and Trump acolytes who said that they were taking politics out of the military. But they're doing the exact opposite. They are literally infusing [00:00:54] the military and military decisions with a completely political agenda, so much so. that career military high ranking officials are being denied positions because of the perceived politics or affiliation [00:01:09] of the office. There's more, the process within the army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hexf's decision to intervene [00:01:27] in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House. The nine US officials familiar with the situation said quote, there is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hexf, end quote. one [00:01:44] of the US officials said. Now one reminder, one, Hegseth is a tool, he's taking orders from Trump. Okay, that's why he's in the position, not because he's an independent man or an independent thinker, not because he's some kind of transformational leader. He's there because he does what Trump [00:02:02] tells him to do. There's more, in recent weeks Hegseth blocked three Marine officers who were expected to be promoted or appointed to new roles. Two women and a black man. According to five of the US officials familiar with the decision. None of the Marines were the subjects [00:02:20] of internal investigations that might raise concerns about moving forward with their promotions. That's according to two of the officials. Marine Corps leaders recommended their promotions, but Hexeth refused to allow the selections to move forward despite attempts by the Corps leadership to intervene, the two officials said. The list of naval officers who had been selected [00:02:41] to be promoted to one star admiral, has been held up for more than a month and it sits on Hayek's desk according to three of the officials. A list of promotions typically would move through the process more quickly, according to the three officials who expressed concern that some of [00:02:57] the Navy officers on the list could be removed because of their race or because of their gender. Hayek's also blocked promotions for a handful of more senior Naval officers, the three officials said. Other officers have been pulled off a list of Air Force promotions at the direction [00:03:16] of Hexeth's office, according to two of the officials familiar with the process. Some of the Naval and Air Force officers whose promotions have been blocked are also women or members of racial minority groups, according to officials. The New York Times first reported Hexeth was [00:03:33] blocking promotions for female or minority officers in the Army, according to Defense Department data back from 2024. The most recent available 80 % of active duty members of the military [00:03:48] are male. Overall, 67 % are white, 18 % are black, roughly 80 % of active duty officers are male. Overall, 74 % of officers are white, only 9 % of officers are black. Hegseth, who [00:04:07] declared an end to quote, woke culture. the Defense Department last year has criticized DEI initiatives adopted by the Biden administration, as has President Donald Trump. Hexeth also has publicly accused the military of awarding promotions based on diversity rather than merit. [00:04:27] Not all promotions for officers who are women or members of racial minority groups have been blocked or delayed during his tenure as Secretary for of the US officials familiar with the process said. Before I go to the uh spokesperson, I want to remind everybody that typically the [00:04:46] head of the Defense Department does not get involved in blocking these promotions. Why? Because the commander in charge of that particular officer or officer's group is the one who makes [00:05:02] the recommendation. These are trusted individuals, day-to-day operators on the ground. who work with career professionals in the US military. Now I'm anti-war, completely anti-war. War is never required. It is an improper framework to provide you with a scenario that makes you [00:05:22] believe that somehow war is required, and it is not. This in the military is indicative of what's happening throughout the entire administration. That's it. Some believed that honor in the [00:05:38] military or at least among those who call themselves soldiers would last beyond the bigotry. But it does not when the people in charge are bigoted except this in charge. All right, um the chief [00:05:56] Pentagon spokesman, got Sean Parnell said Friday quote, this story is full of fake news. There we go from anonymous sources, we have no idea what they're talking about and are far removed from actual decision makers within the Pentagon. Under Secretary Hegseth, military promotions [00:06:11] are given to those who have earned them. Meritocracy, which reigns in this department, is apolitical and unbiased. Meanwhile, Hegseth just forced the Army Chief of Staff into retirement. Here it is. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, [00:06:30] two other top generals, the latest of more than a dozen generals and animals removed over the last year. Chief of Global Affairs, anchor Martha Raddatz has the story. Good morning, Martha. Good morning, George. P-TEG Seth has fired many senior officers since becoming secretary, but these firings, including the Chief of Staff of the Army, come in the middle of a war, a [00:06:50] war where thousands of Army troops have been dispatched to the Middle East. Randy George, the Army Chief of Staff, is a decorated Army general. but he was formerly a senior aide to Joe Biden's secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and it was long rumored Hegseth would let him [00:07:06] go. Hegseth made it official with a statement saying, Randy George will be retiring effective immediately. In addition, Hegseth asked the general in charge of the Chaplain Corps, William Green, and four-star general David Hodney, who has had a long and exemplary... exemplary [00:07:24] career in the military, leaving many of those he mentored in shock this morning. Hegseth has fired more than a dozen generals and admirals since he took over as secretary, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General C.Q. Brown. General Christopher Laniv, now the [00:07:40] vice chief of staff of the army, will take over for General George until a permanent replacement is nominated. Laniv is very close to Hegseth. All right. um David Fox. First of all, conventional [00:08:03] wisdom, you don't trade a horse midstream. The war in Iran is going piss poor, could obviously get worse. so firing all the institutional knowledge, right or wrong, would have matter what you think of the Pentagon, the men that were there for decades have knowledge. um And [00:08:21] doing that in the middle of this war that's going sour for us is not a great idea. This is DEI, this is affirmative action. So everything he's doing is what he's accusing left doing. he is doing race based and sex based hiring. He says, I would rather look in the room with [00:08:37] a bunch of old white men than a bunch of old diverse men and women. And this is exactly what they accuse people who are proponents of DEI, proponents of affirmative action for doing. And so when we take over in four years and all of the higher ranking military official are [00:08:55] old white men and we start to correct that then they're gonna accuse us of being racist. So it's baked in the system, this racism, and now he's perpetrating it. And that is an example of affirmative action. You are skipping over qualifying individuals because of their race [00:09:13] and because of their sex. It's similar in Alabama, recently had a Supreme Court allowed us to redraw a congressional district that is a majority minority district. So instead of having one black representative, we have two in Congress. And a bunch of conservative Republicans shouted, [00:09:30] this is racist, this is racist, you're drawing a district based on race. No, they're all drawn based on race. They were drawn specifically to exclude black voters. This is done to correct that error that has been um happening for 100 years by this point. So this is the reason [00:09:50] why we need things like diversity, equity, inclusion program because there's been a- uh a long standing history in American history of black and brown people and women who are qualified and sometimes overqualified for positions being left in the dust in favor of a lesser qualified. Because [00:10:10] some white men like to look at other white men more than they'd like to look at faces like mine and yours.