Republicans challenge Biden's Pentagon policy nominee on Iran
Colin Kahl said he supports the Abraham Accords and continued pressure on Tehran.
Republican lawmakers on Thursday dug into Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden’s pick to become the Pentagon’s top policy official — a role akin to the defense secretary’s right-hand with responsibility in broad swaths of US national security policy.
It was the second contentious nomination hearing in two days as Republicans jockey for leverage in opposition to the White House’s plans to reenter into negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
GOP members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday pressed Kahl on Iran policy, the Abraham Accords and — taking a cue from the scuttled hearing of his would-be predecessor Anthony Tata last year — a handful of strident tweets criticizing the Trump administration and the Republican Party.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, the committee’s former chairman and current ranking member, lambasted Kahl for an alleged leak of details in a private phone call between the two to the press. Inhofe concluded by emphasizing his reservations about Kahl, but did not say he would vote against Biden's choice for undersecretary of defense for policy.
