When Navy Captain Brett Crozier was ousted from his position earlier this month for publicizing the coronavirus outbreak aboard his vessel, crew members on the USS Theodore Roosevelt chanted his name as he exited the aircraft carrier, according to footage shared on social media sites.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif. - 3rd District) said the cheering showed that the carrier's crew wanted him to stay and that the captain should be reinstated.
"The sailors on that ship, they thought he was the best. They wanted him to remain on the ship, you can tell by the way they cheered," the congressman from California told Cheddar on Monday. "Bring him back. Let him get the ship back in a healthy situation."
Garamendi, who is also chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee, said Crozier's firing was "shameful, absolutely shameful, and obviously very, very detrimental to the ship itself," pointing to the ship's status, currently docked in Guam, with nearly 600 cases onboard and one death reported on Sunday.
As the novel coronavirus spread throughout his ship and his pleas for evacuation were ignored, Capt. Crozier sent a letter to 20 Navy personnel asking for help. He was fired after allegedly breaking the chain of command.
Garamendi said Capt. Crozier was "absolutely correct," and the Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly, who has since resigned following a profanity-laden diatribe against Crozier that became publicized, was "absolutely wrong." Garamendi said "we believe that it was the president who actually ordered the firing, the Acting Secretary carried it out."
Garmendi isn't alone in wanting Capt. Crozier reinstated. More than 350,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org to have the captain restored to his position.
"My understanding is [Defense Secretary] Sec. [Mark] Esper is considering" reinstating Capt Crozier, Garamendi added.
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