The Democratic leader's nominee for defense assistant secretary worked for Pfizer and promoted LGBT rights in the U.S. military.
Brenda "Sue" Fulton is President Joe Biden's nominee for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. A report showed however that Fulton has previously worked for Pfizer, one of the two major pharmaceutical companies behind the controversial COVID vaccines widely distributed in the U.S. and the rest of the world, and had also been a proponent for transgender representation in the U.S. military.
According to the National Pulse, Fulton's nomination to the Pentagon secretary position comes amidst Pfizer's bid to secure an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID booster shots. The 63 year old was also once criticized by members of the U.S. Senate for referring to right-wingers as "anti-everyone nutjobs falling in love with a dictatorship." This is what she wrote in a tweet from March 2014.
Critics have pointed out Fulton's conflict of interest, as she previously worked at Pfizer Consumer Health as a Global Project Lead for five years, from 2012 to 2017. On her LinkedIn page, the Pentagon secretary nominee described her role in "expanding consumer access to Pfizer consumer brands in new channels, all regions."
Fulton also served as a director and later a Franchise Lead for Pfizer's "Prescription to Over-the-Counter (OTC) Switch." This appears to be a conflict of interest as the FDA, which is responsible for authorizing COVID vaccines, including those of Pfizer's,, is also the agency that administers the drug review process that Fulton previously led.
Aside from working with Pfizer, which has long lobbied with politicians to push more COVID vaccines, Fulton is also an LGBT advocate in the U.S. Military. She is known to have pursued efforts for the military to "increase diversity." Now, critics express concern over how the U.S. military is prioritizing far-left critical race theory ideology over combat readiness among American troops.
Fulton, who describes herself as leading the "battle to end the ban on transgender service in the US Armed Forces," served as president of SPARTA, a transgender military advocacy organization. According to her LinkedIn page, her role was to secure "high-level meetings" between transgender service members and senior Defense Department staff, and driving "changed attitudes within the Pentagon resulting in significant policy change." She also served as the Executive Director of Knights Out, a coalition of LGBTQ United States Military Academy alumni.
Fulton's confirmation process has not been smooth. Politico reported back in October 2021 that she was met with intense criticism from Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who questioned her past tweets and statements that blasted members of the GOP and evangelicals, Politico reported. During her confirmation hearing, Republicans Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rick Scott of Florida, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Dan Sullivan of Alaska all vocally opposed Fulton's confirmation.
Sen. Cotton at the time confronted Fulton, telling her, "You have a long history of offensive, inflammatory accusation against Bible-believing Christians. I will oppose this nomination and I certainly hope the entire Senate will oppose it as well."
