Democratic U.S. House Rep Ruben Gallego, a rising star for the party in Arizona who has been encouraged to challenge moderate U.S. Sen Kyrsten Sinema, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin asking him to cut off General Michael Flynn’s military pension.
The letter comes after it was revealed in ABC’s Jon Karl’s new anti-Trump book Flynn made a “frantic” phone call to his friend and DOD official Ezra Cohen and implored him to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
In the letter, Gallego wrote that Flynn should be “stripped of any military benefits he receives due to his encouragement of and involvement in violent attempts to overturn our democratic process.”
“These outrageous actions are unacceptable for anyone who currently serves or previously served in uniform. Any retiree or servicemember who suggests committing treasonous acts such as overthrowing our democratically-elected government forfeits their moral entitlement to the support of the people of the United States,” Gallego added.
In a tweet where he shared a Politico article covering the letter, Gallego reiterated his stance.
“Yesterday, I sent a letter to @DeptofDefense requesting the @SecDef strip Michael Flynn of his military benefits. He’s betrayed his country and we shouldn’t be subsidizing a traitor,” Gallego claimed.
Yesterday, I sent a letter to @DeptofDefense requesting the @SecDef strip Michael Flynn of his military benefits. He’s betrayed his country and we shouldn’t be subsidizing a traitor. https://t.co/e9Lkms6dzv
— Ruben Gallego (@RepRubenGallego) November 18, 2021
According to NatSec Daily, Gallego told them that he thinks Flynn “should go to jail, but what’s currently within the power of the DoD is to remove his pension.”
As Politico noted, a suspension of a retiree’s pay can happen for many reasons, such as not disclosing that they work for a foreign government or they’re mentally incapable of managing their own affairs, but it’s unclear if DoD has so-called “attempted to overthrow an election” as one of its criteria.
Gallego is a veteran who served in the Iraq war before entering politics and is a progressive lawmaker whose district is in Maricopa County.
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