The fears unbecoming of a retired Marine colonel

By Rich Moniak

Unless Sen. Dan Sullivan suddenly finds his political spine, three new White House developments should help convince independent voters that it’s time to kick him out of Congress. Two are examples of how President Donald Trump’s narcissistic, know-it-all mentality is sabotaging America’s national security interests. The other is evidence that the president cares more about money launderers than honest working Americans.

Referencing his “very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea,” Trump ordered a substantial reduction in U.S. participation in the annual joint military exercises with South Korea. He said it sends “a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”

Sullivan knows that’s pure fiction.

“For nearly eight decades, North Korea’s brutal communist regime has oppressed its own people, destabilized Northeast Asia, and threatened the United States and our allies — particularly South Korea,” he said not quite two months ago.

This wasn’t the first time Trump called the joint exercises provocative. He made a similar announcement immediately after his summit with Kim in 2018.

Sullivan disagreed. In a press release issued the same day, he said joint exercises “deter aggression, they do not provoke it.”

This time he responded with crickets.

Last week, Trump also started messing with the country’s fleet of aircraft carriers. He ordered the Navy to develop a plan for replacing their electromagnetic launch and advanced weapons elevators with steam and hydraulic systems. Sullivan would have erupted with rage if a Democratic president with absolutely no military or engineering experience made such a decision. But for Trump it was crickets again.

Finally, Trump’s Treasury Department completely neutered the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

The CTA was included in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which was passed in the waning days of Trump’s first term. It was intended to help law enforcement identify and track shell companies that launder money for drug dealers and other criminal enterprises. Most U.S. businesses were required to report beneficial ownership information to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Network where it would be stored in a confidential database.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a U.S. Senator co-sponsored the CTA, called it “the most significant anti-corruption and money laundering law in decades.”

Although he had some reservations about the reporting impact on small businesses, Trump recognized the legislation strengthened national security. And he commended “the bipartisan work undertaken to develop” it.

He wound up vetoing the NDAA. But his official explanation included no objections to the CTA. It became law when Congress overrode his veto.

Now Trump thinks the CTA’s reporting requirements are “an absolute disaster” and an “economic menace.”

It’s conceivable his flip-flop is related to a revelation contained in a Capital One court filing last week. The bank’s attorneys stated it closed hundreds of accounts associated with Trump’s businesses in 2021 "for anti-money laundering” concerns based on “months of analysis and a careful review” performed “in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance.”

In February, the administration announced it would stop enforcing fines and penalties related to the CTA. And last week it formally ended the reporting requirements for U.S. businesses and stated its intent to delete all previous information that had been submitted.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is one Republican unhappy enough with Trump to speak out. He said that the administration’s action “undermines the clear intent of the law” and leaves law enforcement without “all available tools to protect Americans and crack down on illicit financial schemes.”

Because the Senate never formally voted on including the CTA in the NDAA, it’s hard to know exactly where Sullivan stood on the legislation six years ago. But in 2023 he was highly suspicious of the shell companies run by members of President Joe Biden’s family. And he wasn’t one of the 13 Republican co-sponsors of a Senate bill introduced in April that aligned with the administration’s position.

But we also know he wouldn’t speak up even if he agrees with Grassley.

His silence regarding Trump’s friendly overtures to Korea’s dictator and his ignorant meddling with the Navy’s aircraft carriers is much more troubling. By betraying his national security principles, he’s revealing a fear unbecoming of a retired U.S. Marine colonel. And that’s cause for voters to wonder what other convictions he’s willing to sacrifice to avoid crossing Trump.

• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.