Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly reportedly told the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt that former commander Capt. Brett Crozier was “too naive or too stupid” to be in charge of the aircraft carrier where the coronavirus recently spread among sailors.
Crozier was fired after sending a letter to more than 20 people warning about the coronavirus outbreak on the vessel.
Modly, in remarks broadcast through the Roosevelt’s PA system, suggested that Crozier may have deliberately leaked the letter to the media.
“If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out to the public, in this day and information age that we live in, then he was either A, too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this,” Modly said, according to a transcript first obtained by the Daily Caller. “The alternative is that he did this on purpose.”
“It was a betrayal. And I can tell you one other thing: Because he did that, he put it in the public’s forum and it is now a big controversy in Washington, D.C.,” Modly added.
Task and Purpose also posted audio of Modly’s remarks.
The Hill has reached out to the Navy for comment.
More than 170 crew members of the ship have tested positive for the virus, and Crozier reportedly has as well. A Navy spokesperson previously told The Hill that the military branch could not comment on the matter due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and President Trump have both defended Crozier’s firing, with the president saying Saturday that Crozier “shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter.” Esper said the following day that the firing was “an example of how we hold our leaders accountable.”
Video footage has emerged of sailors on the aircraft carrier applauding Crozier as he disembarked after his dismissal, and Tweed Roosevelt, the great-grandson of the vessel’s namesake, called Crozier a “hero” in a New York Times op-ed Friday.
–This report was updated at 12:27 p.m.