Quill Lawrence

Secretary Doug Collins sent a memo to the VA's hundreds of thousands of staff nationwide encouraging them to report instances of bias against Christians. He asked that staff inform the new task force with names, dates, and locations of any instance where Christians are adversely affected for displaying religious symbols or expressing Christian views.

Secretary Doug Collins sent a memo to the VA's hundreds of thousands of staff nationwide encouraging them to report instances of bias against Christians. He asked that staff inform the new task force with names, dates, and locations of any instance where Christians are adversely affected for displaying religious symbols or expressing Christian views.

The memo says hormone therapy, abortion, and vaccine mandates are examples of things Christian staff may abstain from. The lead Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Richard Blumenthal, said the VA memo lacks any factual basis or rationale, and the task force, quote, raises the specter of dividing the veteran community and favoring some religions over others. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

The memo says hormone therapy, abortion, and vaccine mandates are examples of things Christian staff may abstain from. The lead Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Richard Blumenthal, said the VA memo lacks any factual basis or rationale, and the task force, quote, raises the specter of dividing the veteran community and favoring some religions over others. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

official told us that the search has begun after this second round of headlines about Hegseth. I should add that the White House has said our anonymous source doesn't know what they're talking about. But at a Rose Garden event yesterday, the president stood firmly by Hegseth, at least publicly.

official told us that the search has begun after this second round of headlines about Hegseth. I should add that the White House has said our anonymous source doesn't know what they're talking about. But at a Rose Garden event yesterday, the president stood firmly by Hegseth, at least publicly.

official told us that the search has begun after this second round of headlines about Hegseth. I should add that the White House has said our anonymous source doesn't know what they're talking about. But at a Rose Garden event yesterday, the president stood firmly by Hegseth, at least publicly.

Yeah, there were four senior advisors to Hegseth who left in just the past week. Former Defense Department spokesman John Elliott resigned last week and then published a quite extraordinary opinion piece calling the past month at the Pentagon a, quote, full-blown meltdown and saying that this infighting is hurting President Trump.

Yeah, there were four senior advisors to Hegseth who left in just the past week. Former Defense Department spokesman John Elliott resigned last week and then published a quite extraordinary opinion piece calling the past month at the Pentagon a, quote, full-blown meltdown and saying that this infighting is hurting President Trump.

Yeah, there were four senior advisors to Hegseth who left in just the past week. Former Defense Department spokesman John Elliott resigned last week and then published a quite extraordinary opinion piece calling the past month at the Pentagon a, quote, full-blown meltdown and saying that this infighting is hurting President Trump.

He served in Trump's first administration and appears to want to continue to serve, but Three other Pentagon advisors, Colin Carroll, Dan Caldwell, and Darren Selnick, were escorted out of the Pentagon and accused of leaking information to the press.

He served in Trump's first administration and appears to want to continue to serve, but Three other Pentagon advisors, Colin Carroll, Dan Caldwell, and Darren Selnick, were escorted out of the Pentagon and accused of leaking information to the press.

He served in Trump's first administration and appears to want to continue to serve, but Three other Pentagon advisors, Colin Carroll, Dan Caldwell, and Darren Selnick, were escorted out of the Pentagon and accused of leaking information to the press.

They then put out, as a trio, the three of them put out a joint statement on X saying that their dismissal was unconscionable and that they haven't even been told what they stand accused of leaking. All three of them served in uniform. They say they understand the importance of information security. Caldwell and Selnick, notably, are longtime associates of of Hegseth.

They then put out, as a trio, the three of them put out a joint statement on X saying that their dismissal was unconscionable and that they haven't even been told what they stand accused of leaking. All three of them served in uniform. They say they understand the importance of information security. Caldwell and Selnick, notably, are longtime associates of of Hegseth.

They then put out, as a trio, the three of them put out a joint statement on X saying that their dismissal was unconscionable and that they haven't even been told what they stand accused of leaking. All three of them served in uniform. They say they understand the importance of information security. Caldwell and Selnick, notably, are longtime associates of of Hegseth.

They've worked with him over a decade back to when he was at Concerned Veterans for America, a policy group.

They've worked with him over a decade back to when he was at Concerned Veterans for America, a policy group.

They've worked with him over a decade back to when he was at Concerned Veterans for America, a policy group.

Yeah, I mean, with the first chat group, it was against Pentagon policy to use Signal for that. There were a lot of security issues with it, discussing details of an attack hours before the bombs hit in Yemen. But the people in that chat were the vice president, the secretary of state, people who would need to know.