US President Donald Trump on Saturday offered a blistering denunciation of ex-Navy Captain Brett Crozier, who commanded the USS Theodore Roosevelt during a coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship and was recently dismissed from his position, The New York Post reports.
Crozier was removed late last week after asserting the US Navy was not doing enough to halt the coronavirus outbreak on board the aircraft carrier.
In a letter, Crozier had urged his superiors to act to prevent US troops dying outside of wartime.
Acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said that Crozier "exercised extremely poor judgement".
Modly had explained that Crozier was being fired for allegedly leaking the letter to the media, explaining the letter had "created the impression the Navy was not responding to his questions."
On Saturday, Trump cited the captain’s actions, including a letter he sent to the Navy begging them to allow his ship to make an emergency landing in Guam so sailors could receive treatment. The Navy allowed it after the letter was also leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“He wrote a letter. A five-page letter from a captain. And the letter was all over the place. That’s not appropriate, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Trump said during his daily coronavirus press conference.
“It looked terrible what he did. To write a letter. I mean this isn’t a class on literature. This is the captain of a massive ship … he shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter,” added the President.
Trump also chided Crozier for allowing the ship to stop in Vietnam as the outbreak was growing worldwide and said he agreed “100%” with the Navy’s decision to oust him.