After Republican lawmakers, such as Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz and Cory Mills, threatened to haul U.S. Air Force leaders before Congress to testify about anti-Trump sentiment at a North Dakota base, the Air Force walked back its comments.
As the Tampa Free Press reported on Wednesday, leaders at Minot Air Force Base last week advised troops to avoid the pro-Trump “Dakota Patriot Rally.” The event, scheduled for Nov. 17, was to be headlined by Tyler Bowyer, chief operating officer for the conservative group Turning Point Action.
The advisory to airmen at Minot AFB urged caution and warned that rally-goers could be “confrontational” to military personnel since Turning Point, according to them, was an “alt-right” group. The advisory also said troops who attended the rally could face consequences for their careers.
Related: North Dakota USAF Leaders Tell Troops To Avoid Pro-Trump Rally Or Jeopardize Their Safety, Careers
Gaetz, Mills, and others quickly announced Air Force leaders would be called to testify under oath about the warning.
As of Friday, however, leaders at Minot AFB had stepped back from the left-wing messaging they issued just a week prior.
According to the Epoch Times, the base sent a new advisory declaring, “The [original] message was based on incorrect data and sent outside of official base messaging platforms. Once the error was identified, base security officials corrected the message traffic to categorize the event as a local political fundraiser, with no security concerns.”
“Further, the updated message communicated there were no issues with military members participating in their personal capacity—in line with their First Amendment rights,” the new statement added. “All Air Force Airmen have a Constitutional right to freedom of assembly.”
The Times also reported that Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reported that USAF Gen. David Allvin shared with him that an internal correction was issued less than an hour after the initial message, but it still took the Air Force four days, until Tuesday, to make a public statement clarifying the situation.
“These left-wing political messages are way too common in our military these days, and that needs to be stopped,” Cramer said in a statement. “We need to get our military focused on what they’re supposed to be doing, and that is their own mission.”
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On Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter), Gaetz and Mills were among the first to demand the Air Force be held accountable for the anti-Trump messaging.
“Whoever thought sending this message out was a good idea is definitely gonna be answering questions under oath in the [House] Armed Services Committee,” Gaetz posted.
Mills, also a member of the committee, added in a separate reply to Gaetz: “Our men & women of the Armed Forces fight for our freedoms only to be threatened/ denied by woke and leftist leadership. The command should start preparing for their Armed Services Committee hearings NOW!”
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