Trump Puts Pentagon in Political Crossfire With Tata Appointment

WASHINGTON — In making an end run around Congress to appoint Anthony J. Tata, a retired brigadier general with a history of Islamophobic and other inflammatory views, to a top Defense Department post, President Trump has once again put the military exactly where it does not want to be: in the middle of a political battle that could hurt bipartisan support for the Pentagon.

Mr. Tata, who had been nominated to the No. 3 job at the Pentagon, was unlikely to win Senate approval because of past incendiary comments, according to congressional staff members from both sides of the aisle. At a time when vulnerable Republican senators are grappling with how to deal with the movement to end systemic racism that has rolled across the country, Mr. Tata’s nomination to the top policy post was widely seen as a step too far. Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, canceled Mr. Tata’s confirmation hearing last Thursday just 30 minutes before it was set to begin.

But on Sunday, the White House sidestepped Congress. Mr. Trump had Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper appoint Mr. Tata to a temporary senior position in the same Defense Department office. Arcane rules say that if he stays in that office for 90 days, Mr. Tata can then take the original job in an acting capacity — without Senate approval. (Mr. Tata had withdrawn his name from consideration for that job on Sunday, and Mr. Trump formally withdrew the nomination on Monday.)

On Monday at the Pentagon, where military officials have already been engaged in a tug of war with Mr. Trump over the president’s insistence that the military continue to honor former Confederate leaders, the Tata maneuver was greeted with both resignation and consternation.