Thomas Modly resigns after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain ‘stupid’

Washington CNN — Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday, a day after leaked audio revealed he called the ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt “stupid” in an address to the ship’s crew. The audio of that address was leaked to media outlets and the uproar over Modly’s remarks – calling Crozier “too naive or too stupid” to be in command of the aircraft carrier and saying that going outside of the chain-of-command with his memo represented a “betrayal” – quickly made his position untenable. “I lost situational awareness” After he resigned on Tuesday, Modly again apologized for his comments about Crozier and his familiar tone, telling the Navy in a memo that – upon getting on the ship – “I lost situational awareness.” “When I walked on the quarterdeck of the TR I lost situational awareness and decided to speak with them as if I was their commander, or their shipmate, rather than their Secretary,” Modly wrote. I own it.” Trump, during Tuesday’s briefing from the White House coronavirus task force, said Modly “didn’t have to resign.” “I had no role in it.