Inflammatory Comments Delay Confirmation of Retired General to Pentagon Post

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nomination of a retired general with a history of inflammatory comments to serve in the Pentagon’s top policy job was abruptly postponed on Thursday, as senators from both sides of the aisle indicated an unwillingness to back Anthony J. Tata, a novelist and Fox News commentator.

Half an hour before Mr. Tata’s hearing was set to begin, Senator James M. Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who serves as the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, announced that he was delaying it.

“There are many Democrats and Republicans who didn’t know enough about Anthony Tata to consider him for a very significant position at this time,” Mr. Inhofe said in a statement. “We didn’t get the required documentation in time; some documents, which we normally get before a hearing, didn’t arrive until yesterday.”

Mr. Inhofe said he talked to Mr. Trump on Wednesday night and told him that “we’re simply out of time with the August recess coming, so it wouldn’t serve any useful purpose to have a hearing at this point, and he agreed.”