Roger Wicker, GOP chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee ... will select a qualified and capable successor for the critical position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a very simple explanation for Friday's change in Pentagon personnel. Leavitt was asked during a Tuesday media briefing why President Donald Trump was “naming a replacement for [now-former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Gen.

President Donald Trump abruptly fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday, sidelining a history-making fighter pilot and respected officer as part of a campaign led by his defense secretary to rid the military of leaders who support diversity and equity in the ranks.

The decision to fire Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot, broke a tradition in which the Joint Chiefs chairman remains in place with a new president.

President Donald Trump announced he had fired Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and planned to replace him with Air Force lieutenant general.

The Navy’s top admiral and a senior Air Force general also were dismissed as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moves to align the military with Trump’s agenda.

Roger Wicker, GOP chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee ... will select a qualified and capable successor for the critical position of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”