- Title: U.S. Army chief had no advanced knowledge of Trump's transgender ban
- Date: 27th July 2017
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 27, 2017) (REUTERS) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE U.S. ARMY, GENERAL MARK MILLEY, BEING INTRODUCED/ APPROACHING THE LECTERN (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE U.S. ARMY, GENERAL MARK MILLEY, SAYING: "To date, walking in here, I have yet to receive implementation guidance, implementation directives from the Department of Defense and General Mattis. We grow up and learn to obey the chain of command and my chain of command - Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense and the President. So we will work through the implementation guidance when we get it." AUDIENCE MEMBERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE U.S. ARMY, GENERAL MARK MILLEY, SAYING: "And it should be no surprise to anyone but the entire force, the entire chain of command, will, always has, will today and will tomorrow and always should treat every single soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coastguardsman with dignity and respect for the service and the cloth of our nation, bar none. So that's where we stand as of today." AUDIENCE MEMBERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE U.S. ARMY, GENERAL MARK MILLEY, SAYING: (Answering question about whether he knew the president would be issuing the ban via Twitter on Wednesday) "I personally did not, but nor would I have expected to. I notice that's been in the media out there. Like I said up front, it's a chain of command thing, and I render my advice through the chain of command which in my case will be General - I rendered it up to General Dunford and Secretary Mattis and they would render back to me. So no, personally, no. President doesn't say, 'Hey, Mark. I am doing this.' No, he didn't do that, but nor would I expect him to do that, nor is there any kind of requirement to do that." WIDE OF AUDIENCE
- Embargoed: 10th August 2017 19:36
- Keywords: Milley Transgender military Trump Press Club
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016RHVCXZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The chief of staff of the U.S. Army, General Mark Milley, said on Thursday (July 27) he had no advance knowledge of President Donald Trump's decision to ban transgender individuals from the military before his announcement via Twitter on Wednesday, but added that was not unusual.
"I personally did not, but nor would I have expected to," Milley said, speaking at the National Press Club.
Trump made his announcement on Wednesday morning (July 26) in a series of Twitter postings, saying he would ban transgender people from the U.S. military, a move appealing to some in his conservative political base but creating vast uncertainty for active-duty and reserve transgender service members, who say they number in the thousands
The Trump administration on Thursday told a U.S. appeals court in New York that federal law does not ban discrimination against gay employees, a sharp reversal of the position Democratic former President Barack Obama took.
As a presidential candidate, Trump last year vowed to fight for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. His decision drew condemnation from rights groups and some lawmakers in both parties as politically motivated discrimination. But it was also praised by conservative activists and some of his fellow Republicans. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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