Tuberville explains comments on military abortion policy, white nationalism

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Senator Tommy Tuberville claims he will continue to block military promotions until the Biden administration puts an end to the military’s current abortion policy. The policy provides money to female service members to travel and receive an abortion.

When talking to radio station WBHM, Tuberville defended his actions and was asked if white nationalists should be in the military.

“Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?” the radio host asked.

“They call them that,” Tuberville said. “I call them Americans.”

Since then, the senator has faced criticism from different organizations.

WAFF 48 asked Tuberville to clarify his comments, and a spokesperson sent this statement:

“Senator Tuberville’s quote that is cited shows that he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military. He believes the men and women in uniform are patriots. Secretary Austin seems to think otherwise, subjecting them to extremism training as his very first act in office. That cost us four million man-hours.”

Following his comments, Tuberville immediately deflected and characterized the people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as un-American and the bystanders as patriotic Americans.

“There were a lot of people, probably over 100, who came in, broke windows, and broke doors, who should’ve been locked up,” he said. “That’s not how we do it in America. There were hundreds of thousands that didn’t come in outside that were true Americans who believe in this country.”

NAACP President Bernard Simelton said context or not, these are not comments that should be made.

“I as a retired military officer do not feel that white nationalists have a place in our military today, nor tomorrow,” he said. “Their ideology is so much different that it changes the dynamics of the military if we have the abundance of those who follow those beliefs, and ideology in the military.”

The Senator was on a radio show to talk about his protest of the military’s policy to fund travel and paid time off for service members to seek an abortion. Since the policy went into effect, Senator Tuberville has held every military nomination.

He released the following statement on the policy:

“The burden is not on me to pass legislation to stop this illegal policy…The burden is on the administration to stop breaking the law.”

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