'Desperate threat': Top Dems say Tuberville could be behind Marine leader's health scare

After Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith suffered landed in the hospital Sunday following "an apparent heart attack," Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) alleged U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville's (R-Alabama) military promotions hold may have contributed, Politico reports.

Politico notes the Alabama senator "has maintained the blockade over the Pentagon's abortion travel policy, ensnaring more than 300 generals and admirals at the upper rungs of the armed forces."

Reed told the news outlet, "One of the reasons, I think contributed to his condition was he was doing two jobs at once. I've read where he was working from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. As a result, if he had, as is normal, an assistant, he could switch off."

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Per the report, he added that "Smith's medical emergency underscored, 'the fallacy and the danger' of Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) tactic of delaying top military nominees from being confirmed."

Senate Armed Services member Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), according to Politico, "said Tuesday he would, in the wake of Smith’s hospitalization, push his colleagues even more vigorously to break Tuberville's logjam. He also pointed to nine open positions at Central Command, where there have been attacks on U.S. troops by forces supported by Iran."

He emphasized, "I am so angry as much as I am saddened that the Marine Corps will be handicapped by the absence of a commandant, potentially. The potential as well for an absence in the commandant position just reemphasizes how the Tuberville hold is a desperate threat to our national security."

Additionally, Senate Armed Services member Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) said, "We're talking about … that we have a commandant who’s in the hospital, and we don't have a vice commandant, so the Marine Corps essentially doesn’t have any leadership. I mean, when was the last time that happened?"

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Politico's full report is available at this link.