Ex-CIA director 'stands by' statement after Tuberville reports 'assassination' call to Capitol Police

Former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden is standing by a post suggesting Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) should be removed “from the human race” after the Republican senator reported the retired general to Capitol Police on Tuesday, the Military Times reports.

Monday, Hayden reposted a tweet on X asking if Tuberville should “be removed from his committee” over the senator’s continued blockade of military promotions to protest the Department of Defense’s abortion policy.

"How about the human race”? Hayden asked.

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In a statement Tuesday, Tuberville called Hayden’s comment “disgusting and ... repugnant to everything we believe in as Americans.”

“Given General Hayden’s long career in Washington, he must have known that, by making such a statement, he was committing a serious crime,” Tuberville argued. “His own efforts today to reinterpret what he said are only a tacit admission of guilt.”

Alleging the tweet was akin to Hayden “calling for a politically motivated assassination,” Tuberville said his office “reported this incident to the Capitol Police” and urged the justice system to prosecute the retired general “to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Military Times reports:

Hayden shrugged off complaints about his comments, posting Tuesday morning that “I was surprised to wake up this morning and discover that many MAGAnuts had lost their minds over my suggestion that ‘Coach’ Tuberville not be considered a member of the human race. I stand by that view.”

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Hayden is not the only retired military leader to blast Tuberville’s blockade.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis on Monday pinned blame on Tuberville for holding up the confirmation of a chief of naval operations after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel over the weekend.

“We have an American aircraft carrier, airwing, warships off the coast of Israel – could be in combat any minute,” Adm. Stavridis wrote on X. “But we don’t have a chief of naval operations confirmed. What’s wrong with that picture? Answer: Senator Tuberville. Lift the hold coach.”