Acting Secretary of Navy Thomas Modly has apologized for his comments toward the recently fired captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Brett Crozier. The Trump appointee stated that he was apologizing "directly to Captain Crozier, his family and the entire crew of the Theodore Roosevelt" for "any pain" resulting from his remarks.
"I believe, precisely because he is not naive and stupid, that he sent his alarming email with the intention of getting it into the public domain in an effort to draw public attention to the situation on his ship", Modly suggested in his statement.
BREAKING: Acting Secnav apologizes for comments amid calls for his resignation. pic.twitter.com/SroHrLUYIP
— David B. Larter (@DavidLarter) April 7, 2020
Congressmen Ted Lieu and Ruben Gallego wrote a letter to US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper suggesting that Modly himself should be fired for dismissing the captain in a fit of anger instead of "dealing with the vessel in a mature manner expected of civilian military leaders during national crisis".
Earlier, Modly publicly lambasted Crozier in front of the crew for the letter the latter wrote to Navy leaders, in which the captain asked for help in finding adequate quarters to quarantine most of his 4,000-member crew before they could get tested for the coronavirus. Modly called Crozier "either naive or stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this".
