Dem Rep. Moulton: I’d Fire Austin ‘in About Five Minutes’

On Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) stated that while the decision on whether Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin keeps his job is up to President Joe Biden, “I would fire him in about five minutes.” And “I can’t even imagine it happening when I was a 15-year-old busboy. If I was going to be out for a week, I had to tell my boss.”

Moulton said, “What he did is completely unacceptable. I can’t imagine that happening at the lowest levels of the military chain of command, like where I was, as a mere lieutenant platoon commander in Iraq. I can’t even imagine it happening when I was a 15-year-old busboy. If I was going to be out for a week, I had to tell my boss. So, this is a major breakdown in the chain of command and the commander-in-chief needs to make a decision here. It’s up to the President as to whether he fires Secretary Austin, but I’ll tell you what, he needs to send a decisive message that this is never going to happen again.”

Host Blake Burman then asked, “What would you do, I’m curious, if you had to make the call?”

Moulton responded, “If I were the president of the United States, I would fire him in about five minutes.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett