Army Suspends Three-Star General Gary Volesky For Mocking Jill Biden
A retired three-star general has been suspended from a $92-an-hour contract consulting with the Army and is under investigation after appearing to mock Jill Biden on Twitter.
Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, the Army’s former top spokesman and recipient of the Silver Star, was advising senior military officers, staff, and students participating in war games and other military activities.
Lt. Gen. Theodore Martin, commander of the Combined Arms Center, suspended Volesky pending the outcome of an inquiry, Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman said.
Volesky was responding to a tweet from Jill Biden that said women had their rights stolen from them by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“For nearly 50 years, women have had the right to make our own decisions about our bodies. Today, that right was stolen from us,” Biden tweeted.
Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky, the Army's former top spokesman, responded to a tweet from Biden that said the rights of women had been stolen in the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. https://t.co/jlLl18lH5w
— Axios (@axios) July 9, 2022
“Glad to see you finally know what a woman is,” Volesky said.
Volesky retired in 2020,
From Axios:
Volesky’s response is a breach of decorum for a retired military officer, USA Today writes.
It’s an unusual step into partisan politics by an official the Pentagon is paying, especially since the department typically steers clear of such matters.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was a “mistake” to make a June 2020 appearance with then-President Trump in Lafayette Square.
“My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics,” he said in a video message several days later.
Retired three-star general Gary Volesky suspended over tweet mocking Jill Biden https://t.co/RO6YPRbjFA pic.twitter.com/U7EAP4PMQ1
— New York Post (@nypost) July 9, 2022
US army general suspended for mocking Jill Biden’s support of abortion rights https://t.co/P0MUjfW7YV
— The Guardian (@guardian) July 9, 2022