Washington, DC - Today, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) made the following statement about President Trump’s remarks to service members at the commissioning of the USS Ford urging members of the military to lobby Congress on his behalf:‎

“I condemn President Trump’s remarks. We need to be one-hundred percent clear that it is utterly beyond the pale for the Commander-in-Chief to publicly tell members of the armed services that they should lobby Congress on his behalf. Doing so puts them in an untenable position and disrespects their longstanding professional practices as well as their duty to remain apolitical. President Trump has done this before, and he cannot be allowed to keep doing it.”‎

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