National Security/Pentagon Reporter with The Associated Press in D.C.; Granite State/Lakes Region native; Proud Michigan State Spartan; Go Sox! Go Pats!

Joined January 2010
113 Photos and videos
Lolita Baldor retweeted
Hegseth Strikes Female and Black Navy Officers From Promotion List. The result: a slate of 22 new one-star admiral nominees that bears little resemblance to the force these officers will help lead. Of special note: The list has no women. w/ @katekelly nytimes.com/2026/06/01/us/po…
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
This is the first meeting in memory by a #SOUTHCOM commander and a Cuban military delegation at the edge of Gitmo.
SCOOP! The commander of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. Donovan, met senior Cuban military leaders at the perimeter of Guatanamo Bay today. Story coming...
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
In December, President Trump called for me to be investigated, arrested, and hanged over a 90-second video that restated existing law. My lawyer's advice was straightforward: go quiet. Keep your head down. This will blow over. But in this administration, the reality is that keeping your head down does not keep you safe. Staying quiet when power comes after you does not make the threat go away. It just teaches the people making the threat that it works. When a president can call for the arrest and execution of a sitting senator for quoting the law, and the expected response is silence, that's a problem that goes way beyond me. That affects every American who works in government, every journalist, every ordinary citizen who might speak up. A grand jury of ordinary Americans looked at this situation and said no. They understood what was at stake, and I think most Americans do. We refuse to accept that this is the new normal. This moment isn't really about me. When the administration is willing to go after a senator this way, it sends a message to every American who might speak up. That should concern people in both parties.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
Breaking: The New York Times has filed a second lawsuit against the Defense Department, this time challenging the escort requirement for journalists covering the Pentagon.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
I stand with David (AKA "Ed") Sanger. @SangerNYT
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
We had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago and you said it would take “years” to replenish some of these stockpiles. That’s not classified, it’s a quote from you. This war is coming at a serious cost and you and the president still haven’t explained to the American people what the goal is.
“Captain” Mark Kelly strikes again. Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath…again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Two out of three Americans think President Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war with Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
“The Court cannot conclude this Opinion without noting once again what this case is really about: the attempt by the Secretary of Defense to dictate the information received by the American people, to control the message so that the public hears and sees only what the Secretary and the Trump Administration want them to hear and see. The Constitution demands better. The American public demands better, too.” reuters.com/world/us-judge-o…
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
Breaking news: A judge found that the Defense Department’s revised “interim” policy unconstitutionally sidestepped his earlier ruling. That ruling found that the department’s press policy violated the rights of the New York Times and one of its reporters. wapo.st/4cxJnam
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
I was far, far from perfect in either job I held at OSD PA. But at least I never had a federal judge rule that one of my memos violated the First Amendment. So I got that goin’ for me. washingtonpost.com/business/…
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
Replying to @SenatorSlotkin
@SenatorSlotkin is a former top Pentagon official who the Trump administration tried and failed to indict for urging troops not to knowingly follow illegal orders.
The President of the United States is taking his threats against the Iranian people to new extremes. Targeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon's Law of War Manual. This kind of focus on civilians is exactly what we accuse our adversaries of doing and what our military trains to avoid. It’s built into the rigorous drilling and routines that our military are trained on from their first weeks. If they are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy. I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders. Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise. It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
APNewsAlert: WASHINGTON (@AP) — US service member missing after #Iran shot down fighter jet has been rescued, US officials say.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
NEW: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process. nbcnews.com/politics/nationa…
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
Breaking News: One American was rescued from a U.S. fighter jet crash in Iran, officials said. The fate of a second crew member was unknown. This was the first time during the war in Iran that a U.S. warplane had been brought down over Iran. nyti.ms/4sg4bIi
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
Sec. Hegseth fired over 20 top generals and admirals, including a top Army general who served 7 presidents this week. Purging generals to settle personal or political vendettas is what happens in China or Russia, not America. I broke down why this is dangerous back in November:
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
The army purge goes beyond the chief of staff. Hegseth has also fired General David Hodne, who leads the Army's Transformation and Training Command, and Major General William Green, head of the Army's chaplain corps.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
secretary @PeteHegseth - would you make the same decision had these pilots done the same thing to celebrate @springsteen? Or is this contingent upon folks sharing your political views?
Thank you @KidRock. @USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots. 🇺🇸
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
The latest Economist cover says it all.
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Lolita Baldor retweeted
There are no circumstances where the @SecWar's personal stockbroker should be buying or selling *any* defense-related stocks — but particularly moments before the U.S. sends its service members to fight and die in war. We cannot allow this type of corruption to become normal, no matter how much President Trump and his Administration flood the zone with new ways to personally enrich themselves and their friends. reuters.com/business/finance…
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