McConnell: 'Alarming' some Trump Pentagon hires survived vetting process

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it was “alarming” that some of President Trump’s new hires in the Pentagon survived the vetting process.

McConnell is urging the Trump administration to “steer clear” of Pentagon advisers who make predecessors under the Biden and Obama administrations “look tough by comparison,” Jewish Insider reported.

“It’s alarming that people can clear vetting after claiming U.S. interests in the Middle East are ‘minimal to nonexistent,’ suggesting that America should ‘militarily retrench’ from the region, or claiming that providing Israel even defensive assistance against Iran-backed terrorists is escalatory,” McConnell said in a statement to the outlet.

The comments come as some Republicans, as reported by Jewish Insider, grow concerned that Trump’s new hires within the Department of Defense are opposed to any U.S. military engagement in the Middle East, even if it means going against the country’s ally of Israel.

“President Trump has committed to restoring peace through strength and standing with Israel,” McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, said. “But the folks staffing up his Pentagon operation don’t appear to have read the memo.”

McConnell was highlighting statements made by Michael DiMino, who was chosen to be deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Middle East, and Dan Caldwell, reportedly a top adviser for Pete Hegseth, who was chosen to be the secretary of Defense, Jewish Insider reported.

Trump, who was inaugurated earlier this week, was delivered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas as he reentered office.

The Biden administration announced the deal as former President Biden ended his term, and Trump claimed that the peace deal struck for the region was due to his election win.

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