Bernie Sanders Supports Biden Pick of Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary, Despite Criticism From Some Democrats

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in a Tuesday interview that he tentatively supports providing a waiver to allow retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as President-elect Joe Biden’s Defense secretary.

Austin, who led U.S. Central Command in President Barack Obama’s administration before retiring 2016, has not been out of the military for the required seven years, meaning he would require a waiver from the Senate in order to win confirmation. Lawmakers last granted one to President Donald Trump’s first Defense secretary, Gen. James Mattis, in 2017, leading critics to suggest that such waivers are being granted too freely. Congress approved just one exception prior to Mattis — for President Harry Truman’s nominee to lead the department, Gen. George Marshall, in 1950.

“I really haven’t focused on the issue of the waiver for Austin,” Sanders noted in his Tuesday interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur. “But my inclination is that I would support that.”

Sanders’ support could lend significant momentum to Austin’s nomination, who some progressives have viewed critically, in part, because of his work in the private sector in recent years. Austin presently sits on the board of companies including Tenet, a health-care firm, and Raytheon Technologies, a Pentagon contractor. Some Democrats are also hesitant to grant another waiver exempting Austin from the rule requiring a seven-year gap between his last military job, and his appointment as secretary of defense.

Pressing Sanders on the issue, Tur asked, “Does it make you uneasy, there are groups out there including veterans groups that say ‘Listen, this should be a civilian in this position. It should be a civilian running the Pentagon?'”

“Yes, it does,” he responded. “But on the other hand, it is the president of the United States who makes these nominations, and I presume that Biden and his team have thought long and hard on this.”

Watch above via MSNBC.