Trump Lets Navy’s Chief Off the Hook Over an Offer to ‘Fire Me’
By Anthony Capaccio
November 2, 2019, 6:00 AM EDT
Spencer says Trump told him to keep working on costly carrier
Contractor Huntington Ingalls failed to deliver, Spencer says
U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer says Donald Trump told him to keep working on persistent problems with the service’s costliest ship, freeing him from a pledge that “you can fire me†if the aircraft carrier’s long-delayed weapons elevators weren’t installed and working by August.
Spencer said in an interview that the president didn’t mention the “fire me†offer at a meeting about two weeks ago.
“He just said keep going†with efforts to fix the USS Gerald R. Ford, Spencer said. “He said it was a very complex system†and “you seem to be knocking down the issues.â€
Among the flaws that have delayed full capabilities of the carrier and driven its cost above $13 billion are the elevators needed to lift munitions from below deck. Only four of the 11 “advanced weapons elevators†that should have been installed when the ship was delivered in May 2017 are now working, according to Spencer.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-02/trump-lets-navy-s-chief-off-the-hook-over-an-offer-to-fire-me
