Democrats on Sunday intensified their demands for answers from the Trump administration over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the aircraft carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment continued fueling concern over crew morale, mental health and living conditions.
Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, said on Sunday that problems aboard the Lincoln had kept mounting – and he blamed the carrier’s prolonged deployment on the unresolved war that Donald Trump started in February with Iran as well as lackluster leadership in general from the Republican president’s administration.
“I was just speaking to a [Lincoln crew member’s] spouse just about three days ago, and this is the current problem right now,” Gallego said on ABC News’s This Week. “The deep, deep, deep problem here is that this administration did not plan for this war, did not plan how to get out of this war, [and] did not really understand how this war was going to escalate.”
Gallego, a retired US marine, also warned that comments from defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump dismissing Lincoln concerns could discourage service members from staying in the military.
Those remarks from Gallego came amid growing scrutiny over the Lincoln’s extended mission in the Middle East. The navy aircraft carrier has been at sea for nearly nine months and has gone more than ۲۰۰ days without a port call.
That has prompted Democratic lawmakers to call for an investigation into conditions aboard the carrier, citing reports of low morale among its ۵,۰۰۰ navy sailors and marines as they endure a record-breaking deployment at sea.
Hegseth has rejected those reports as “completely misrepresented”. Trump, meanwhile, has minimized the duration of the deployment, saying it is “not nearly long enough”.
The Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, two leading publications specializing in the US military, have reported multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses aboard the Lincoln reach a breaking point during its ninth months at sea.
The carrier has been supporting the US war against Iran. And several Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Pentagon to take accountability for conditions facing its crew.
Wes Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor and a military veteran, on Sunday also sharply criticized Trump’s response to concerns about the mental health and living conditions of those aboard the Lincoln.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Moore said: “The response of the president of United States pisses me off. And it should piss all of us off.”
Moore continued by alluding to the fact that Trump did not serve in the US military beside becoming its commander-in-chief during his two presidencies.
“I would have hoped that, since he’s never been forward deployed, since he’s never put on the uniform and sacrificed for this country, that he would have more compassion for the people who are willing to, that he would have more compassion for their family members who are willing to offer their loved ones to this country because they love this country so much,” Moore said.
Moore added that “nobody understands” the Iran war, which “all of us are paying for”.
The Lincoln recently received a visit from the US Central Command commander Adm Brad Cooper, who said in a statement on Saturday that its crew “is a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished”.
“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper’s statement added.
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Cooper – who oversees the war with Iran – made the visit during a ۱۰-day trip that also took him to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, his statement said.
That statement came one day after Trump downplayed concerns about what the Lincoln crew was enduring during its record-setting deployment.
“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump said when questioned about the lengthy deployment.
Asked whether family members were worried about the situation, Trump responded: “No, they’re not.”
The Guardian on Sunday reported on naval families who denounced Trump and Hegseth for dismissing their loved ones’ experiences, including aboard the Lincoln.
Retired Adm Mike Mullen, a former chair of the joint chiefs of staff, pushed back on Trump’s comments during his own appearance on Sunday on This Week, saying such lengthy deployments take a toll on crews.
Mullen said he spoke with Cooper on Saturday evening and was told that poor conditions aboard the Lincoln had been addressed. He also said morale among the crew improved after Cooper told the sailors they would be going home.
An exact date for the Lincoln’s return has not been announced.
