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.
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
