Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly was nominated to command the Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
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- Rear Adm. Donnelly’s nomination for command of the Navy’s Seventh Fleet – submitted by President Donald Trump and approved by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – was confirmed by the Senate on June 29.
- A senior Pentagon official confirmed that Hegseth had withdrawn Donnelly’s nomination after Senate approval.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked a Navy admiral’s recently approved promotion and command assignment amid criticism over drag shows held aboard his aircraft carrier in the last decade.
In mid-June, President Donald Trump nominated Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, a F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, for promotion to vice admiral and command of the Navy’s strategically important 7th Fleet.
The fleet, headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan, oversees around 50 to 70 ships while running the Navy’s operations in the western Pacific and eastern Indian oceans.
The U.S. Senate approved Donnelly’s nomination via voice vote alongside those of four other top Navy officers on June 29, according to Congress.gov.
But Hegseth, according to a senior defense official, has since withdrawn Donnelly’s nomination for promotion and command. On July 10, the Navy declined to comment on Donnelly’s status and referred questions to Hegseth’s office.
The official said Hegseth was thankful for Donnelly’s service and wished him luck in his next position, adding the secretary was identifying a new nominee to head the 7th Fleet.
Hegseth’s office declined to provide USA TODAY with the secretary’s rationale for changing his mind about Donnelly. The admiral did not immediately return a request for comment left with his staff.
However, Donnelly came under fire from conservative influencers and media personalities because of drag show performances that occurred during his stint commanding the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier from 2016 to 2018.
“He was an otherwise qualified admiral who sanctioned Navy-sponsored drag shows (with cash prizes) on the air craft carrier he commanded,” conservative defense analyst William Thibeau said on X.
Thibeau, who raised the drag show issue in 2023, argued the admiral “allowed a gross politicization of the military.”
