WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Chanahan has withdrawn his candidacy for the next Defense Secretary, making the Pentagon without a permanent president in the foreseeable future, President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday. The withdrawal of the former Boeing chief executive comes after several media reports on Tuesday, chronicling a series of family violence and attacks within his family. According to the Washington Post, William Ben Chanahan attacked his mother, Kimberley, with a baseball bat in 2011. In 2010, Kimberly was arrested by police in Seattle after a violent confrontation with her husband at the time, according to USA Today, and later released.
The FBI has been investigating domestic violence cases as part of the investigation into the candidate's background, delaying Chanahan's nomination process. Shanahan was originally due to go to the Senate for Tuesday's confirmation session. It was not clear why these cases did not appear during his confirmation to become deputy defense minister in 2017.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Shanahan said he had decided to withdraw his name from the list of nominations for the highest position in the Pentagon, "because this would make my three children recapture a painful chapter of our family's life and reopen the wounds we have been closing for years, That they are almost healed, so their safety and well-being are the top priority for me. " "It is unfortunate that some people paint the painful family situation in a misleading way," he says. "I welcome the opportunity to be appointed defense minister, but not at the expense of being a good father."
Chanahan has served as Acting Secretary of Defense since the resignation of former Defense Secretary James Matisse in December 2018. The six-month tenure of Shanahan is the longest in US history where the Pentagon has a permanent president. The Republican Rep. Of the House Armed Services Committee, Mac Thornberry, urged President Donald Trump to hold the top post in the Pentagon "within weeks, not months." "The ambiguity surrounding this vacant post encourages our enemies and destabilizes our allies," he said in a statement.
But this high-level Pentagon post will not be filled anytime soon. Trump Shanahan has been suspended for several months, before announcing his intention to run for the permanent post. Any new candidate must still undergo a thorough examination of his background. At the same time, the Senate will go on leave in August, and the new candidate is likely to wait until autumn to confirm it.
• This top Pentagon post will not be filled anytime soon.