President Joe Biden’s Pentagon policy chief nomination cried ignorance on Thursday about a State Department official with ties to an Iranian influence network who appeared to pledge loyalty to the nation dubbed as one of the world’s leading state sponsors of terrorism.
Derek Chollet, whom Biden nominated as the undersecretary of defense for policy, faced the Senate Armed Services Committee in a confirmation hearing where Republican senators tore into him over his role in foreign policy decisions as a State Department official in the current administration, including the infamous Afghanistan evacuation and sending military equipment to Ukraine.
But after a bombshell report this week revealed internal Iranian government emails obtained by Semafor — which showed top foreign policy officials in both the Obama and Biden administrations were part of an Iranian influence operation — Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) pressed Chollet about one of the three individuals, who currently works for…