Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sounded the alarm on a pair of Pentagon hires under President Donald Trump, calling it "alarming" that anyone who says U.S. interests in the Middle East are "minimal to nonexistent" survived the vetting process.
McConnell made the remarks to Jewish Insider in a story published Thursday.
"President Trump has committed to restoring peace through strength and standing with Israel. But the folks staffing up his Pentagon operation don't appear to have read the memo," McConnell said in a statement to Jewish Insider.
According to the report, McConnell was referring to Michael DiMino, Trump's pick for deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, and Dan Caldwell, a top adviser to Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth, according to the JI report. DiMino last February downplayed U.S. interests and threats in the Middle East. Caldwell recently wrote the U.S. should "militarily retrench" from regions such as the Middle East.
"It's alarming that people can clear vetting after claiming U.S. interests in the Middle East are 'minimal to nonexistent,' suggesting that America should 'militarily retrench' from the region, or claiming that providing Israel even defensive assistance against Iran-backed terrorists is escalatory. The administration would be wise to steer clear of Pentagon advisers who make their Obama and Biden predecessors look tough by comparison," McConnell told JI.
DiMino, who was sworn in Monday, said in a webinar in February 2024 that the Middle East does "not really" matter for U.S. interests and actually said that "vital or existential threats" in the Middle East are "best characterized as minimal to nonexistent," according to JI.
Separately, DiMino said in a radio interview that "people that try to tell you that Iran is somehow going to take over the Middle East, I think it's fearmongering and I think it's pablum and it's not supported by the facts," JI reported.
Iran launched roughly 180 ballistic missiles at targets in Israel on Oct. 1, months after launching drone and missile attacks on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights in April.
"DiMino doesn't believe that the U.S. should be focusing on our interests in the Middle East. When he does discuss the Middle East, he says we shouldn't be using our military there. When it comes to allies and enemies, he doesn't think Israel should be trying to eradicate Hamas," a Republican congressional defense staffer told JI. "None of these things are what President Trump believes or what Hegseth at least says he believes."