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Bloomberg
John Rood has stepped down as the top policy official at the Defense Department, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The senior Pentagon official had faced pressure to resign from key figures who lost confidence in his ability to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to multiple administration officials who requested anonymity to speak about Rood’s departure.
Rood was under secretary of Defense for policy, a post he held since January 2018. He was the official who certified in May to Congress that Ukraine was eligible to receive $250 million in security assistance.
That aid was temporarily blocked by the White House, a decision at the centre of Trump’s impeachment.
CNN reported earlier this month that Rood warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper against withholding military aid to Ukraine in an e-mail on
July 25, the same day Trump asked the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a phone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate earlier this month of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his pressure campaign on Ukraine.
Trump quickly moved to oust members of his administration who had testified during
the House impeachment investigation, including Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman from the White House National Security Council and US ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Rood was meeting with Esper on Wednesday. A formal resignation letter was being drafted.
The post is one of the most important at the Pentagon, managing the office that translates and implements policy set by the senior defense civilian leaders. The office uses as its benchmark National Security Strategies published by incoming administrations and companion National Defense Strategies issued by the Pentagon.
Trump officials considered Rood a bureaucrat who would delay execution of the president’s policies. Trump likes his directives to be implemented rapidly and national security aides believed Rood never fully agreed with the president’s positions, according to two people familiar with the situation.
One Republican national security official who asked not to be named said some of Rood’s colleagues disliked his performance as a leader.