WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed the military on Thursday to carry out a smooth transition to President-elect Donald Trump, with a reminder to the force of its obligation to follow the lawful orders of the next commander in chief.
While such memos are rare, it was not the first time the military's top civilian leader has pressed the force on its duty to the Constitution in regard to a changeover of control under Trump.
However, in the context of the incoming president’s suggestion that he may use federal forces at the southern border, and Project 2025 plans to force out career civilians and fill positions with Trump loyalists, the Biden administration has taken unusual steps both to try to insulate those civil servants and to remind the military of its own sworn oaths.
“As it always has, the U.S. military will stand ready to carry out the policy choices of its next Commander in Chief, and to obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command,” Austin wrote in his letter to Defense Department personnel.
“The U.S. military will also continue to stand apart from the political arena; to stand guard over our republic with principle and professionalism; and to stand together with the valued allies and partners who deepen our security," he wrote.
Austin reminded all members of the military that they swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution — “and that is precisely what you will continue to do.”
In 2016, the outgoing defense secretary in the Obama administration, Ash Carter, also pressed for an orderly transition after Trump was elected, telling the force he knew it would continue in the tradition of excellence “our citizens know they can expect.”
And when Trump's Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned in 2018, he urged the force to remain “undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution.”
“Our Department is proven to be at its best when times are most difficult,” Mattis wrote in December 2018, after resigning due to disagreements with Trump over a withdrawal of troops in Syria.
After the Biden administration, through the Office of Professional Management, issued a new rule in April to further insulate career civil servants from being involuntarily replaced by political appointees, Austin reiterated the Pentagon’s commitment to do the same. In a letter dated July 10, he said civil servants would be shielded “from unlawful or other inappropriate political encroachments."
The regulations were in response to an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, which is expected to re-emerge in the second Trump term. It is unclear what sort of protections that workforce will still have in a new administration, particularly if Trump issues an executive order undoing the protections put in place for those civilian workers under President Joe Biden.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin smiles during a joint press briefing with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — NASCAR heads into its championship weekend locked into a federal antitrust lawsuit with NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. Its officiating has been under months-long scrutiny, and this week it issued a wave of hefty fines for alleged race manipulation in the final playoff qualifier.
And Truck Series championship contender Ty Majeski was fined $12,500 for skipping media obligations in North Carolina on Tuesday so he could vote in person in his home state of Wisconsin.
Other than that? Three champions will be crowned starting Friday at Phoenix Raceway.
But those national series races have become a sideshow to the off-track drama that has engulfed NASCAR the last several months. The four drivers who are competing in Sunday's winner-take-all finale have tuned out the distractions, starting with Tyler Reddick, who made the final four for the first time in his career and is trying to give Jordan his first championship since Jordan became a team owner in 2021.
“No, for me, and for our group, it is championship weekend and everything else is not in our focus,” Reddick said Thursday.
A federal judge in North Carolina is due to rule Friday — the same day of the Truck Series championship and the first practice for the Cup Series — on a preliminary injunction filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports. The two teams refused to sign NASCAR's take-it-or-leave-it offer in September on a new revenue sharing agreement and instead have sued both NASCAR and chairman Jim France.
Now the teams want to be recognized under the charter agreements as they proceed with a lawsuit that accuses NASCAR of being “monopolistic bullies.” The ruling is due the same day NASCAR is slated to give its annual “State of the Sport” address.
Ryan Blaney, the reigning NASCAR champion who is seeking to become the first driver to go back-to-back since Jimmie Johnson won five Cup titles in a row from 2006 through 2010, said the off-track issues have nothing at all to do with him or Team Penske. Blaney and teammate Joey Logano give Ford and Roger Penske a 50% chance to win a third consecutive Cup title.
“For me it feels normal because I am not a part of any of it,” Blaney said. “I am part of what I am doing, the championship, so it's nice to not be a part of any of the things going on outside sheer competition. For me, it's a great week, championship week and we've got a chance to do it. To me, it's normal.”
NBC Sports does not think the off-track drama will spill into coverage of the three national series races at Phoenix.
“I think during the race, we are here to crown a champion and I can't imagine us talking about anything other than that,” said analyst Jeff Burton, who said play-by-play announcer Leigh Diffey is unlikely to declare Reddick the winner in the same breath as “but there's a lawsuit!”
But there are other issues pending.
NASCAR on Tuesday levied $600,000 in fines and suspended nine members of three different Cup teams for alleged manipulation at Martinsville Speedway last weekend. NASCAR ruled Bubba Wallace of 23XI helped fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell by allegedly faking a flat tire. That allowed Bell to hit the wall to avoid Wallace and ride it for momentum to claim the final spot in the playoffs over William Byron.
But that move had been ruled illegal after Ross Chastain did it in 2022, and it took NASCAR officials nearly 30 minutes post-race Sunday to decide if Bell was disqualified or not. He was, and Byron of Hendrick Motorsports got the final spot.
“It was excruciating,” Byron admitted Thursday. “It was so long. I was honestly numb to it. I was just preparing for not being in and thinking we had done all we needed to do to get in.”
NASCAR also ruled Tuesday that fellow Chevrolet drivers Chastain and Austin Dillon acted as blockers for Byron over the final few laps to prevent anyone from taking position from him.
Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing appealed the penalties; 23XI withdrew its initial appeal while denying it manipulated the race for Bell, and RCR withdrew the appeal before the hearing. The appeal panel late Thursday ruled Trackhouse violated the rules.
And then there's just the scrutiny over NASCAR officiating in general.
NASCAR for the entire playoffs has flip-flopped on its damaged vehicle policy, which was completely botched during the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Confusion over the DVP rule began early in the playoffs when Blaney and Josh Berry were in first-lap incidents and although the damage appeared minimal, the way the DVP rule had been previously officiated, both were deemed out of the race and ineligible to be towed to the pit stall because they were unable to continue after contact.
But at Talladega, after a 28-car crash brought out the red flag, NASCAR struggled to control the cleanup. Numerous damaged cars were stranded with flat tires and then-playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Briscoe were towed back to their stalls to allow for repairs.
Under previous implementation of the rule, the cars should have been ruled out of the race because they had four flat tires and were not able to drive back to pit road.
Drivers were incensed over the change in officiating. NASCAR officials later told teams they’ll operate the DVP policy the rest of the playoffs the way they did at Talladega.
“The DVP policy could spill into the live event,” NBC analyst Steve Letarte said. “So when it affects on-track clearly to us, we have to cover that, that's our job. But there's no chance I'm going to pull an off-track story and connect it to an on-track performance. I think it's a slap in the face to whatever teams wins the championship trophy.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Tyler Reddick, center, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Crew members perform a pit stop on driver William Byron's car during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Ryan Blaney, center, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
