Trump addresses Crozier ouster during virus briefing

President Trump responded to questions about the firing of Navy Capt. Brett Crozier during Monday’s coronavirus task force briefing at the White House.

Video Transcript

- Mr. President, the acting Secretary of the Navy told the crew of the USS Roosevelt that Captain Crozier was either, quote, "too naive or too stupid to be in command." Is it appropriate for the chief officer of the Navy to speak in this way about this captain? Is this the--

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I haven't heard it exactly. I haven't heard. I heard they had a statement that was made. If that were the statement, it's a strong statement. Look, the letters shouldn't have been sent. And certainly they shouldn't have been leaked. This is a military operation.

I must tell you, I've heard very good things about the gentlemen, both gentlemen by the way. I will say this-- but-- about both gentlemen. And I may look into it only from the standpoint that something should be resolved because I'm hearing good things about both people.

- What might you look into, sir?

DONALD TRUMP: I may just get involved, if it's OK with you.

- [INAUDIBLE]

DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, because you know what? We have good people and they're arguing. And I'm good, believe it or not, at settling arguments. I'm good at settling these arguments. So I may look into it in great detail-- in detail-- and I'll be able to figure it out very fast. But that was the statement. It's a rough statement.

But look, look, look-- letters should not have been sent to many people unclassified. That was a mistake. It's a mistake that shouldn't have been made. Because it's unfair to the families of the people on the ship because they get nervous.

And it shows weakness. And there's nothing weak about us now, not anymore. We have the strongest military we've ever had. And we're not going to be showing weakness to anybody. Because we have-- that ship is incredible, nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

And we don't want to be doing writing letters. We don't want to have letter writing campaigns where the fake news finds a letter or gets a leak. We don't want that. So the letter-- excuse me. So the letter shouldn't have been sent.

With all of that said, his career prior to that was very good. So I'm going to get involved and see exactly what's going on there. Because I don't want to destroy somebody for having a bad day. OK, does that make sense? OK--