The United States Army has suspended a retired three-star general for allegedly mocking First Lady Jill Biden on Twitter.
Retired Lt. Gen. Gary Volesky has been suspended from a $92-an-hour contract consulting with the Army and is under investigation over online comments about President Joe Biden’s wife.
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,” Biden tweeted.
“Today, that right was stolen from us.”
“Glad to see you finally know what a woman is,” Volesky said.
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
Volesky retired from duty in 2020 but continued to work under contract for the military.
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.
