Inhofe Says He’d Support Shanahan For Defense Chief If Nominated

Senate Armed Services Cmte Chairman Jim Inhofe says in statement and an interview with Bloomberg News that “we need to have a nominee for the secretary of Defense, and I would like to see that nomination come from the White House soon.”

• Inhofe says he also welcomes from Pentagon inspector general a “thorough, but expeditious examination of any outstanding issues” alleged against Acting Defense Sec. Patrick Shanahan by a watchdog group that said he was biased toward former employer Boeing Co., based on its reading to two blindly sourced news stories
• NOTE: Inhofe’s committee controls approval of military and civilian nominees
• Inhofe says in interview that the White House will need to get another nominee, however, if the IG review is “going to be a long period of time”
• Inhofe says Shanahan at cmte hearing this month tried to respond to lawmaker criticisms “in a thoughtful way, not wanting to make any blunders by overreacting” so he “was overly cautious from what his normal behavior would be”