Army Probes Sergeant Major At West Point For Barbed Political Tweets

The Army is investigating a command sergeant major at West Point who used a semi-anonymous Twitter account to criticize elected officials and former President Donald Trump, the Daily Caller reported Thursday.

Sgt. Maj. Michael J. Coffey has served as the command sergeant major at the military academy since last August, according to the Daily Caller, which reported the Army had confirmed it had launched a probe of his tweets.

In a response to one post from Vice President Kamala Harris, a Twitter account with the handle @mjcoff02 going by ''Michael J.'' posted: ''As a service member with 28 years active duty and multiple combat deployments, I spent every day wondering what my Commander in Chief would do to me and my unit. I have not slept well for the last 4 years. I’m sleeping soundly tonight,'' the Daily Caller reported.

Another user got in a back-and-forth with @mjcoff02 — identifying him multiple times as a former command sergeant major of the Army’s Third Infantry Division and as a current senior enlisted at West Point.

Afterward, ''Michael J.'' deleted his account.

The Daily Caller said when the account was visible, the bio described ''Michael J.'' as a ''Grandfather, father, soldier,'' and the date the account was made as August 2020 — the same month Coffey took over as a senior enlisted at West Point.

Before the account was deleted, it sniped at GOP officials closely associated with Trump, including then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, suggesting Trump’s picture should be featured alongside that of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian leaders as a threat to the United States and Israel.

The account also posted disparaging tweets about Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the Daily Caller reported.

''West Point takes all allegations of impropriety seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation into this matter,'' Army Lt. Col. Christopher Ophardt, director of public affairs and communications at the U.S. Military Academy, told the Daily Caller.

According to the Daily Caller, the online blasts could theoretically be adjudicated by a court martial, citing an article in the Washington University Jurisprudence Review written by Army Judge Advocate Elliott Hughes.