Al Gore says President Donald Trump’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military is wrong and a distraction from more important issues.
The Latest on President Donald Trump’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military (all times local) :
5: 40 p.m.
Al Gore says President Donald Trump’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military is wrong and a distraction from more important issues.
The former vice president spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday while promoting his film, «An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.»
Gore said he didn’t think that Trump consulted with military leaders before making his announcement on Twitter. He says he thinks Trump is big on distractions and that is leading to the president not getting any important work done.
Gore says Trump should be focused on solving climate change, the topic Gore has been vocal and passionate about for more than a decade.
«An Inconvenient Sequel» is a follow up to 2006’s Oscar-winning documentary «An Inconvenient Truth.»
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4: 10 p.m.
The American Medical Association says there is no «medically valid reason» to bar transgender individuals from military service.
The national organization that represents physicians and medical students says financial cost is a rounding error in the U. S. defense budget and shouldn’t be used to deny anyone the opportunity to serve.
President Donald Trump cited «tremendous medical costs and disruption» as the basis for the ban he announced Wednesday morning on Twitter.
The association says it supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria.
It adds that transgender individuals currently serving the country should be allowed to continue doing so.
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3: 05 p.m.
A White House spokeswoman is not saying what will happen to transgender troops currently serving in the military after President Donald Trump said transgender people should be barred from the armed services.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that the Department of Defense and the White House will work together to implement Trump’s plans. She did not provide a timeline for the process.
Sanders described the move as a «military decision» and said Trump was concerned the current policy «erodes military readiness and military cohesion.» She said the secretary of defense was notified yesterday after Trump made the decision.
Trump said on Twitter Wednesday that he wants transgender people barred from serving in the U. S. military «in any capacity.»
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11: 30 a.m.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a double amputee veteran of the Iraq War, is slamming President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.
Duckworth said in a statement Wednesday that when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down, she didn’t care «if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else. All that mattered was they didn’t leave me behind.»
The Illinois senator said anyone willing to risk their lives for their country should be able to serve no matter gender or sexual orientation or race.
She said, «Anything else is discriminatory and counterproductive to our national security.»
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11: 30 a.m.
A national LGBTQ advocacy group says President Donald Trump’s decision to bar transgender people from military service is an «all-out assault» on these individuals.
Stephen Peters, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, tells The Associated Press that Trump’s decision was «alarming» because it comes after a decade of progress toward inclusion in the military. Peters says the decision is «morally reprehensible, » »patently unpatriotic» and dangerous because it «puts a target on the backs of thousands of service members.»
Trump announced on Twitter that he is barring transgender people from service in the military «in any capacity.» He cited «tremendous medical costs and disruption.»
Peters says the decision doesn’t appear to have factored in the effect on military morale and readiness.
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11: 10 a.m.
Ash Carter, who as secretary of defense last year ended the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, is criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to ban their service.
Carter issued a statement Wednesday saying that the important thing for choosing who is allowed to serve is whether they are best qualified.
«To choose service members on other grounds than military qualification, » he said, «is social policy and has no place in our military.»
Carter added that transgender individuals already are serving capably and honorably in the military.
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11: 10 a.m.
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee is calling President Donald Trump’s newly announced ban on transgender military service «an unwarranted and disgraceful attack.»
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington says preventing transgender people from joining the military and pushing out «those who have devoted their lives to this country would be ugly and discriminatory in the extreme.»
Smith also is challenging the estimates cited by conservative lawmakers that show the Pentagon end up spending hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade to pay for gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies.
He says those figures «have no basis in fact» and likely were «cooked up by right-wing advocacy organizations whose real interest is not to support military readiness but to further discrimination.»
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11 a.m.
The Pentagon, which appeared to be caught off-guard by Trump’s tweets barring transgender people from the military, is referring all questions about them to the White House.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said in a brief written statement that the Pentagon is working with the White House to «address» what he calls «the new guidance» from the president on transgender individuals serving in the military.
Davis said the Pentagon will provide revised guidance to Defense Department officials «in the near future.»
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10: 47 a.m.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is slamming President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military as «vile and hateful.»
In a statement, Pelosi pointed out Trump’s decision came on the same day in 1948 that President Harry S. Truman signed the executive order desegregating the military.
The California Democrat called Trump’s action «a cruel and arbitrary decision designed to humiliate transgender Americans who stepped forward to serve our country.
