For two days in a row, Army leaders have been questioned by lawmakers about why Gen. Randy George, the service’s former chief of staff, was forced to retire earlier this month.
CBS News first reported on April 2 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had asked George to step down as the service’s top officer. A Defense Department official confirmed the CBS report to Task & Purpose.
More than a dozen generals and admirals have been fired, and others have retired early since Hegseth became defense secretary in January 2025, but George’s ouster has spurred considerably more bipartisan criticism from Congress than the past dismissals. Notably, several Republican lawmakers have voiced support for George.
On Thursday, members of Congress brought up George’s firing several times during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the Army’s budget. Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) pressed Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to say why George was forced out.
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Case said that Driscoll owed Congress and soldiers an explanation about why the Trump administration had decided to “summarily fire the chief of staff of the Army publicly, overtly, and I would even say, humiliatingly and cruelly, without any offer, apparently, of a graceful exit.”
Driscoll replied that he was on vacation with his family when he learned that George had been asked to submit his retirement.
“When we drove back from North Carolina, I drove straight to Gen. George’s house,” Driscoll said. “We walked right in and we all gave him a hug. There is no person that has more respect for Gen. George and his 42 years of service, his Purple Heart, his wife Patty, their grandkids, their kids. I adore them, and he was an amazing, transformational leader.”
However, Driscoll also said that civilian leaders have the power to “pick the leaders that they want,” adding, “we execute on those orders.”
Other lawmakers praised George during Thursday’s hearing, including the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who described the former Army chief of staff as a “great patriot.” Cole also said that while he would never interfere with the chain of command, he wished George’s military service “had continued somewhat longer.”
Fellow Republican Steve Womack of Arkansas also lauded George, adding, “I, too, regret the fact of the conditions that he left the service, and I think that our country will regret that circumstance.”
Their comments come a day after Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) warned in a separate hearing that George’s ouster could “have a chilling effect on the way our services operate in the future.”
During Wednesday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing on readiness, Scott asked Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s acting chief of staff, why George was dismissed.
“Sir, that’s a question for Secretary Hegseth,” replied LaNeve, who has been serving as the Army’s vice chief of staff since February. “I’ve been the vice for a couple months now. We honored the service of Gen. George and his wife.”
LaNeve has risen through the ranks rapidly since Hegseth became defense secretary. In April 2025, he replaced Air Force Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short as Hegseth’s senior military advisor. That October, he was nominated to become vice chief of staff following the retirement of Gen. James Mingus, who served in the position for less than two years.
Scott said he was concerned about the precedent that George’s dismissal might set. When he asked all the officers testifying at Wednesday’s hearing if they agreed that military officers must provide their leaders with honest advice, they all said yes.
“If our top general officers are removed without justification from their positions for providing honest, objective advice, which is something that I always knew Gen. George to give, then I fear that it’s going to have a trickle-down effect that’s going to be devastating to the other officers, and especially how their spouses feel about continuing to spend their lives in service,” Scott said.
