Sen. Charles Schumer, D- N.Y., on Sunday passed up a chance to support former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel for a possible nomination as defense secretary, NBC News reported. Asked on “Meet the Press” whether President Barack Obama should nominate Hagel to replace departing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Schumer said, “Well, that’s his choice. I think once he makes it, his record will be studied carefully. But until that point, I think we’re not going to know what’s going to happen.” When NBC’s David Gregory asked directly whether he could support Hagel’s nomination, Schumer replied, “I’d have to study his record. I’m not going to comment until the president makes a nomination.” Last week the Washington Post, which usually supports Obama on its editorial page, ran an editorial opposing the rumored Hagel nomination. The editorial called Hagel “isolated in his views about Iran during his time in the Senate. He repeatedly voted against sanctions, opposing even those aimed at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which at the time was orchestrating devastating bomb attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.”
