Hung Cao’s bid for Navy secretary faces choppy waters post-USS Abraham Lincoln

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White House Headlines - September 21, 2026

White House Headlines - September 21, 2026

President Trump’s official nomination of Hung Cao to be Navy secretary is already in jeopardy after Democratic senators indicated they won’t vote in favor of giving him the waiver needed to serve.

Cao, a Trump loyalist who has served as the acting head of the Navy since April and was officially nominated on Sept. 1, will need 60 votes in the Senate for a waiver given his previous stint in the service, where he retired as a captain in 2021. Federal law requires former military officers to wait seven to 10 years before they can take several top civilian roles at the Pentagon.

But Democrats told The Hill they have serious concerns with Cao’s track record while serving as the Navy’s top civilian, including the handling of the troubled USS Abraham Lincoln deployment, which stretched roughly nine months as it supported the U.S. war in Iran.

“Hung Cao has shown he has neither the ability nor the temperament to serve as Navy Secretary,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to The Hill.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said beyond the logistical hurdles with getting Cao confirmed “due to the Trump administration’s botched nomination requiring a waiver,” she expects he will have to answer to what she called a “severe mishandling” of the Lincoln’s deployment to the Middle East that led to deteriorating mental health issues onboard.

She added that........

© The Hill