US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he did not ask Patrick Shanahan, the acting defense secretary, to withdraw from consideration to be defense secretary.
U.S. media published reports on Tuesday about domestic violence allegations surrounding Shanahan and his family. Trump told reporters that he had heard about the allegations for the first time on Monday, and added that his administration had a very good vetting process for its nominees.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan on resigned from his post and withdrew from consideration for the currently vacant post of defense secretary.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the resignation via social media, saying that Shanahan would not go forward with the nomination process to spend more time with his family.
The post of Acting Defense Secretary will now be filled by Dr. Mark T. Esper, who will move from his current job as Secretary of the Army.
“I thank Pat for his outstanding service and will be naming Secretary of the Army, Mark Esper, to be the new Acting Secretary of Defense. I know Mark, and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job!” Trump tweeted.
According to his army bio page, Esper was a senior executive at the Raytheon Company and “served concurrently as executive vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center and as vice president for Europe and Eurasian Affairs.”
Shanahan’s exit follows that of former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who left the post in January citing policy differences with Trump.
The U.S. President’s high-level staffing jobs have seen an above average amount of turnover, with Trump also replacing former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with Mike Pompeo in March last year.م
