Rep. Zooey Zephyr, transgender legislator censured in Montana, wins reelection

(NEW YORK) — Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is among those pushing back on past comments made by President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next defense secretary, who was critical of women being allowed to serve in combat units.

“I’m straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles,” Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, said in a recent podcast interview that aired last week.

“It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” he said on the “The Shawn Ryan Show”.

Hegseth’s comments have raised concerns among former servicemembers with first-hand experience serving in integrated units, and from the former Defense Secretary Panetta, who in 2013 lifted the Pentagon’s ban on women serving in ground combat units.

“Those kinds of comments come from a past era and I think it’s important for him to take the time to really look at how our military is performing in an outstanding fashion,” Panetta told ABC News in an interview.

“We’ve got the best military in the world, and the reason is because we have the best fighting men and women in the world who are part of it,” he added.

“I just think that anybody who takes the time to really look at how women are performing in combat will come around and say that that’s exactly where they belong,” he said.

In the podcast interview, Hegseth said that the decision to allow women to serve in ground combat units has lowered the physical standards for those wishing to serve in those units.

Panetta recalled that in the lead-up to his decision, he pushed back on the notion that allowing women to serve in combat units would lower physical standards.

“We shouldn’t lower the standards. We should require that women have to meet exactly the same standards as men do, and that’s what they do,” he says he argued at the time. “They wouldn’t be in those positions if they weren’t able to be able to meet the standards that are required.”

Panetta said, “The mere fact that that has just not become an issue at all in terms of how the military has performed, is a reflection that the simple reason is because both men and women are living up to the same standards when it comes to fighting for America.”

Of the more than one million active-duty military personnel, 17.5% are women according to the Pentagon’s latest statistics.

The process of integrating women into combat units was a gradual one that began in 1993 when Defense Secretary Les Aspin issued an order that allowed women to fly in combat.

But women were not allowed to serve in ground combat units until 2013, when Panetta rescinded the ban that was subsequently enhanced in 2015 by Defense Secretary Ash Carter who cleared the path for women to serve in the jobs that were still limited to men, including some in special operations.

By 2019, more than 600 female Sailors and Marines were serving in combat arms units previously restricted to men, while more than 650 women held Army combat roles and over 1,000 had accessed Army combat specialties.

Currently more than 2,500 women serve in previously closed ground combat jobs, 152 women have passed the elite Ranger School test, and 10 of them serve as Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment, according to a review of military personnel information compiled by Retired Army Col. Ellen Haring, with the Service Women’s Action Network.

Haring points out that the full integration of women into combat units actually occurred during President Trump’s first term and that standards have never been lowered to accommodate women.

“Women have been serving in combat jobs for almost 10 years now and there is absolutely no evidence that women have harmed combat units,” she told ABC News. “In fact, many standards had to be established when they were considering admitting women because they had previously been loosely defined.”

“Those who claim they have been lowered have no actual knowledge of the training requirements or how women have been held to the exact same requirements,” she said. “If they think standards have changed or are different for women then I challenge them to go to Fort Moore today and watch the execution of training.”

Twenty years ago, Allison Jaslow headed a convoy security unit in Iraq that regularly came under smalls arms fire and was exposed to explosions from roadside bombs.

“Women have not only been in combat for some time, but many are tougher than many of their male counterparts. Need proof? Look at the women who’ve graduated from Ranger School, which is so grueling that around half of the men who enter it fail out,” said Jaslow in a statement issued in her role as the CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

“Those women deserve a Secretary of Defense who is aware of that reality and also ensures that the culture in the military embraces that reality – especially as we still continue to confront a recruitment crisis,” she added.

Garrett Jordan, a former Army captain, served in integrated combat units, and counts some of his female classmates at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as among those who are now Army Rangers or have commanded infantry and armor companies.

“Women have served in combat arms units, in both command and enlisted positions, and continue to do so and excel,” he said.

As a former Army officer, Jordan said he is “well aware of the physical endurance, technical competence, and mental fortitude that it takes to serve in a tank unit and to perform the duties and responsibilities as a soldier in a combat arms branch.”

Jordan said women in the training classes he commanded “maintained the standard, just as much as their male counterparts,” he said.

“Ultimately, gender does not determine whether or not someone has the physical strength, or competency to serve in these units,” said Jordan. “There is a standard, and if soldiers, regardless of gender are meeting it, then they should have the opportunity to serve in these units.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump tapped former California Rep. Devin Nunes as chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board in a series of announcements on Saturday.

Nunes has been a staunch Trump loyalist and serves as CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs the president-elect’s social media company, Truth Social.

“I am pleased to announce that I will appoint Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes as Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which consists of distinguished citizens from outside of the Federal Government,” Trump posted in his announcement on Truth Social. “While continuing his leadership of Trump Media & Technology Group, Devin will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s activities.”

Nunes represented California in the House from 2003 to 2022. He was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2015 until 2019, as well as ranking member from 2019 until his resignation from Congress on Jan. 1, 2022, to lead Truth Social. Nunes will remain in his role in the president-elect’s company while serving as chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, established in 1956, aids the president by offering independent analysis on the effectiveness of the intelligence community and the ability of U.S. agencies to meet “the nation’s intelligence needs.”

In addition to Nunes, Trump named longtime friend and donor Bill White as the U.S. ambassador to Belgium and Troy Edgar to be his deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Currently the CEO of Constellations Group, White was president of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum before he resigned amid allegations of improper financial dealings. He has denied any wrongdoing. White, also a member of the Log Cabin Republicans, organized multiple pro-Trump LGBTQ fundraisers and events this past election.

Edgar, currently an executive at IBM, previously was Trump’s chief financial officer for the DHS and the associate deputy undersecretary of management for homeland security.

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(WASHINGTON) — A United States Capitol Police Officer, who defended the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, vividly recounts the events of that day, describing it as a profoundly devastating experience for himself, his fellow officers and the nation as a whole.

Former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon spoke with ABC News about the trauma of Jan. 6.

“It’s hard to relive and talk about moments like this,” Pingeon said. “I had that moment right there that I might die right here on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.”

Pingeon and his team, dressed in full riot gear, rushed to the Capitol’s west front that day, the site of some of the most brutal violence against police officers that day.

“I remember hearing radio calls of officers yelling for help that the line had been breached,” Pingeon said. “They sounded panicked and like they really needed help. So, in my mind, that was one of the first indicators, ‘hey, maybe this is not just a normal protest.'”

Pingeon recalls his team being outnumbered and says he was punched in the face by rioters who had descended on the Capitol that day to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, fueled by false claims about election fraud spread by Former President Donald Trump.

“I was knocked on my back,” Pingeon said. “My helmet came down and felt like someone was on top of me and I couldn’t see anything. And I remember just thinking, I have to protect my gun, because they stole my baton.”

Pingeon wasn’t injured as severely as other officers, but he has invisible scars that may never fully heal.

He returned to work shortly after the riot and served in the Capitol Police for another nine more months as the memory of Jan. 6 became politicized. He has since left law enforcement.

“Right after Jan. 6, it seemed like everybody was on the same page,” Pingeon said. “This is not OK. Then very quickly the narrative shifted. And that was really difficult to see.”

Approximately 140 Capitol Police officers were injured by rioters, making it one of the most violent days for law enforcement in recent U.S. history.

Four officers who responded to the Capitol attack have since died by suicide.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering multiple strokes hours after he was pepper sprayed by rioters. The Washington DC medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes, but said his experience on Jan. 6 played a role in his condition.

Despite the deaths and injuries to officers, a months-long investigation by ABC News found conservative figures, including Trump, have begun to downplay the violence on Jan. 6, painting that day as a largely peaceful protest and recasting imprisoned rioters as “hostages.”

Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia House of Delegates and congressional candidate who served three months in federal prison for charges related to Jan. 6, repeated many of those false claims in an interview with ABC News.

“Do I think that anyone should be fighting police officers? No, I do not,” Evans said. “I think it’s wrong to do that. The police officers are the ones that really started the whole violence over there.”

Winston Pingeon reacted strongly.

“That’s not true,” he said when ABC News played video of Evans’ comments for the former Capitol Police officer. “We were there protecting. We were there to hold a line. We’re not pushing back unless we’re pushed on first. So its completely ridiculous.”

Multiple accused rioters from Jan. 6 have claimed they were incited to violence by police, but none have been successful in court.

Evans was convicted of trespassing at the Capitol and attempting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election, a charge the Supreme Court has recently found was applied in an overly broad manner to Jan. 6 criminal cases.

“I don’t even think [Jan. 6] is really worth remembering. It’s been blown out of proportion by the media,” he said.

Meantime, the former president and his allies have made rewriting the history of Jan. 6 a centerpiece of his campaign, often saying a large number of capitol rioters deserve to be pardoned.

“If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump told ABC’s Rachel Scott during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention.

A pardon is exactly what Capitol rioter Rachel Powell told ABC News she’s waiting for behind bars.

“If Trump gets that, he’s promising that he will pardon us, if he gets in and they don’t steal the next election,” Powell said.

Powell called ABC News from federal prison, where she is currently serving a more than four-year sentence for her actions on Jan. 6.

Several of Powell’s fellow Jan. 6 inmates feel the same, she told ABC News. Powell sent ABC News a photo, taken inside of her correctional facility, showing her and three other Jan. 6 inmates smiling, with the words “Trump 2024” written in marker on top.

“I would want to know why they did what they did, and I’d be curious to know if they have remorse today. I think that’s what I would want to know,” Pingeon said. “Because loyalty to one man, to alter your life negatively, to go to prison for years. I mean, I would ask them: Was it worth it?”

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