Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Friday sounded off on Under Secretary of Defense for Policy nominee Colin Kahl and his rhetoric on social media. Kahl, whose Senate confirmation was held the day before, has since apologized for his tweets.
Cotton questioned the “temperament” of Kahl getting “swept up in the moment” while reading the news in the middle of the night. He told Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” if that is his reaction while reading the news, he does not think his “temperament is suited to be an official.”
“Look, I think it’s appropriate to apologize. He didn’t need to apologize to me. I don’t think he needs to many other senators, who are used to very tough criticism. This is not about mean tweets. This is about temperament,” Cotton emphasized. “He said in that answer also yesterday … that he got kind of swept up in the moment, in the heat of the moment. Most of these social media posts were happening in the middle of the night when he was presumably sitting at home reading the news. If that’s his reaction under such conditions, just sitting at home reading the news, what is he going to be like in the Pentagon when Iran hijacks another American boat or China shoots down American aircraft? Again, I don’t think his temperament is suited to be the number three official in our Department of Defense.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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