Trump sticks with Tata a day after Senate drops hearing for ex-Wake superintendent
President Donald Trump is still supportive of retired Army Gen. Tony Tata’s nomination for a top Department of Defense post, one day after a Senate confirmation hearing for the controversial former North Carolina official was canceled.
“The President still supports General Tata,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Friday morning at a briefing.
A confirmation hearing for Tata — a former Wake County schools superintendent and North Carolina Department of Transportation chief — was canceled less than an hour before it was set to begin Thursday morning, a sign that his nomination could be imperiled.
Tata has been nominated for the No. 3 post in the Department of Defense. Trump picked him to be the under secretary of defense for policy.
The Senate Armed Services Committee had been scheduled to hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
“There are many Democrats and Republicans who didn’t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, a Oklahoma Republican and the chairman of the committee, in a 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 purpose to have a hearing at this point, and he agreed.”
The Senate is currently scheduled to be out of session from Aug. 10 through Sept. 7 though those dates could change.
Tata, an author and Fox News commentator, served as the head of the North Carolina Department of Transportation from 2013 to 2015 under former Gov. Pat McCrory. He led the Wake County Public School System from December 2010 to September 2012, when he was fired by the Democratic-led school board.
Tata’s nomination has faced criticism from outside groups, in particular the NAACP and Muslim groups. Some Republican senators have expressed concern about the nomination as well, The Washington Post reported.
“This cancelled hearing shows that deep incompetence and naked bigotry can still be disqualifying in Washington, but only when people of conscience organize to hold their senators accountable. Tata does not have the votes and the White House knows it,” said Scott Simpson, the public advocacy director for Muslim Advocates, in a statement Thursday morning.
In 2018 tweets, Tata called Islam “the most oppressive violent religion I know of” and called President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader.”
Critics said that Tata’s choice-based student assignment plan in Wake County would lead to resegregation. His plan led to longer bus rides for students, which caused an uproar.
On Wednesday, a critic of Tata’s nomination called him “one of the most openly and brazenly bigoted nominees in recent history.”
“Anthony Tata’s record and the agenda it represents pose a danger to America’s Muslim service members, to our Black servicemembers, to religious freedom, and to every American who cares about basic decency and public life, who cares about loving one another,” Faithful America Campaigns Director Rev. Nathan Empsall also said on a press call Wednesday.
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This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 9:24 AM with the headline "Trump sticks with Tata a day after Senate drops hearing for ex-Wake superintendent."
