Top Pentagon official tests positive for Covid-19
Tata will isolate at home for the next 14 days.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement that Tata met with Lithuanian Minister of Defense Raimundas Karoblis last Friday. Karoblis has since tested positive for Covid-19 and the Lithuanian Embassy told the Pentagon on Thursday of his infection.
“Mr. Tata was tested today and has tested positive for COVID-19 on two successive tests. He will isolate at home for the next 14 days in accordance with Center for Disease Control protocols,” Hoffman said.
Karoblis also met with multiple senior Pentagon leaders, including acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, the secretaries of the Army and Air Force and the secretary of the Navy. Each of those officials have been tested since their meeting, Hoffman said. He did not say how those leaders had tested.
This is not the first time senior officials at the Pentagon have experienced a coronavirus scare. A majority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went into quarantine and self-isolation after the vice commandant of the Coast Guard tested positive for coronavirus following a meeting of the military’s top leaders.
The deputy commandant of the US Marine Corps subsequently tested positive for the coronavirus. And the No. 2 officer in the Space Force also tested positive for coronavirus after contracting it in a separate incident
And in radio and television appearances, Tata also spread conspiracy theories that a “deep state cabal” of officials would rather see Trump fail than succeed in office.
After the withdrawal of his nomination, Tata had been designated “the official performing the duties of the deputy under secretary of defense for policy.”
He is widely viewed as a Trump loyalist who maintained support from the White House even as Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee signaled they were unwilling to support his confirmation earlier this year.
This story has been updated with additional information Thursday.
