‘A VERY GOOD MAN’

Trump Praises Ex-Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, Says He Didn’t Have to Resign

Trump said former Captain Crozier “didn’t have to be Ernest Hemingway.”

President Trump praised former Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly as a “very good man” on Tuesday evening and said he would not have asked the naval officer to resign. Modly had tendered his resignation earlier in the day following leaked audio that depicted him saying that Captain Brett Crozier was “too naive or too stupid” to hold command of a battleship. Crozier was captain of the USS Roosevelt until he was fired last week for raising concerns about the new coronavirus on his ship in a letter that was leaked to the media. Of Crozier, Trump said, “He didn't have to be Ernest Hemingway.” On Modley's decision to resign, the president said, “I had heard he did because he didn’t want to cause any disturbance for our country…  because he wouldn’t have had to resign, I would not have asked him.”