{"id":220865,"date":"2026-08-16T21:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-demand-answers-from-trump-on-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T21:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T21:05:13","slug":"democrats-demand-answers-from-trump-on-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/democrats-demand-answers-from-trump-on-uss-abraham-lincoln-conditions-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats demand answers from Trump on USS Abraham Lincoln conditions – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senator Ruben Gallego calls carrier\u2019s months-long deployment a \u2018deep problem\u2019 as wellbeing concerns mount
Democrats<\/a> on Sunday intensified their demands for answers from the Trump administration<\/a> over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln<\/a> as the aircraft carrier\u2019s nearly nine-month deployment continued fueling concern over crew morale, mental health and living conditions.
Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from Arizona, said on Sunday that problems aboard the Lincoln had kept mounting \u2013 and he blamed the carrier\u2019s prolonged deployment on the unresolved war<\/a> that Donald Trump<\/a> started in February with Iran as well as lackluster leadership in general from the Republican president\u2019s administration.
\u201cI was just speaking to a [Lincoln crew member\u2019s] spouse just about three days ago, and this is the current problem right now,\u201d Gallego said on ABC News<\/a>\u2019s This Week. \u201cThe deep, deep, deep problem here is that this administration did not plan for this war, did not plan how to get out of this war, [and] did not really understand how this war was going to escalate.\u201d
Gallego, a retired US marine, also warned that comments from defense secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> and Trump dismissing<\/a> Lincoln concerns could discourage service members from staying in the military.
Those remarks from Gallego came amid growing scrutiny over the Lincoln\u2019s extended mission in the Middle East. The navy aircraft carrier has been at sea for nearly nine months and has gone more than 200 days without a port call.
That has prompted Democratic lawmakers to call for an investigation into conditions aboard the carrier, citing reports of low morale among its 5,000 navy sailors and marines as they endure a record-breaking deployment at sea.
Hegseth has rejected those reports as \u201ccompletely misrepresented\u201d. Trump, meanwhile, has minimized the duration of the deployment, saying it is \u201cnot nearly long enough\u201d.
The Navy Times<\/a> and Stars and Stripes<\/a>, two leading publications specializing in the US military, have reported multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard<\/a> as poor conditions and mental stresses aboard the Lincoln reach a breaking point during its ninth months at sea.
The carrier has been supporting the US war against Iran. And several Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Pentagon to take accountability for conditions facing its crew.
Wes Moore, Maryland\u2019s Democratic governor and a military veteran, on Sunday also sharply criticized Trump\u2019s response to concerns about the mental health and living conditions of those aboard the Lincoln.
Appearing on CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/a>, Moore said: \u201cThe response of the president of United States pisses me off. And it should piss all of us off.\u201d
Moore continued by alluding to the fact that Trump did not serve in the US military<\/a> beside becoming its commander-in-chief during his two presidencies.
\u201cI would have hoped that, since he\u2019s never been forward deployed, since he\u2019s never put on the uniform and sacrificed for this country, that he would have more compassion for the people who are willing to, that he would have more compassion for their family members who are willing to offer their loved ones to this country because they love this country so much,\u201d Moore said.
Moore added that \u201cnobody understands\u201d the Iran war, which \u201call of us are paying for\u201d.
The Lincoln recently received a visit from the US Central Command commander Adm Brad Cooper, who said<\/a> in a statement on Saturday that its crew \u201cis a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished\u201d.
\u201cHistory will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,\u201d Cooper\u2019s statement added.
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Cooper \u2013 who oversees the war with Iran \u2013 made the visit during a 10-day trip that also took him to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, his statement said.
That statement came one day after Trump downplayed concerns<\/a> about what the Lincoln crew was enduring during its record-setting deployment.
\u201cThat ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it\u2019s being replaced with another very similar ship,\u201d Trump said when questioned about the lengthy deployment.
Asked whether family members were worried about the situation, Trump responded: \u201cNo, they\u2019re not.\u201d
The Guardian on Sunday reported<\/a> on naval families who denounced Trump and Hegseth for dismissing their loved ones\u2019 experiences, including aboard the Lincoln.
Retired Adm Mike Mullen, a former chair of the joint chiefs of staff, pushed back on Trump\u2019s comments during his own appearance on Sunday on This Week, saying such lengthy deployments take a toll on crews.
Mullen said he spoke with Cooper on Saturday evening and was told that poor conditions aboard the Lincoln had been addressed. He also said morale among the crew improved after Cooper told the sailors they would be going home.
An exact date for the Lincoln\u2019s return has not been announced.<\/p>\n

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Senator Ruben Gallego calls carrier\u2019s months-long deployment a \u2018deep problem\u2019 as wellbeing concerns mountDemocrats on Sunday intensified their demands for answers from the Trump administration over conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as the aircraft carrier\u2019s nearly nine-month deployment continued fueling concern over crew morale, mental health and living conditions.Ruben Gallego, a Democratic senator from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}