Trump says he’ll reverse Pentagon plan to ax Stars and Stripes
“The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch.”
— tweet from President Donald Trump
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he won’t allow the Pentagon to cut funding for the military’s independent newspaper, Stars and Stripes, effectively halting Defense leaders plan to shut the paper down this month.
“The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch,” Trump tweeted. “It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!”
Trump’s tweet came as he fought off new accusations that he called service members killed in World War I “losers” and “suckers” during an event in France in 2018.
The Defense Department has ordered the paper to halt publication by Sept. 30, and dissolve the organization by the end of January. The order, in a recent memo to Stripes, follows the Pentagon’s move earlier this year to cut the $15.5 million in funding for the paper from the Defense Department budget.
The Trump White House hadn’t spoken out against the Pentagon plan to close the paper before Friday, even though it has been in the works and publicly written about for months.
On Friday, Trump worked to shore up his reputation as a staunch supporter of the nation’s armed services. “I’ve done more for the military than almost anyone else,” he said Friday in the Oval Office.
Members of Congress have objected to the defunding move for months. Senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper this week urging him to reinstate the money.
The letter, signed by 15 senators — including Republicans and Democrats — also warns Esper that the department is legally prohibited from canceling a budget program while a temporary continuing resolution to fund the federal government is in effect.
“Stars and Stripes is an essential part of our nation’s freedom of the press that serves the very population charged with defending that freedom,” the senators said in the letter.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., in a separate letter to Esper in late August, also voiced opposition to the move, calling Stripes “a valued ‘hometown newspaper’ for the members of the Armed Forces, their families, and civilian employees across the globe.”
In the memo, the department says Esper made the decision as a result of his budget review.