White House Calls Out Tuberville for Unfulfilled Promise to Donate Salary to Troops as He Holds Up Military Promotions

White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called out Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., on Wednesday over his campaign promise that he's failed to fulfill to donate his salary to veterans.

"True colors. In 2021, [Sen. Tuberville] talked a big game about military families," Bates tweeted. "Now, every Trump Admin. defense secretary blasts him for being 'uncaring' toward them. In 2020, Tuberville pledged to donate his salary to vets. That was a lie, too."

Bates' comments were in response to a Wednesday report from The Washington Post which highlighted a 2019 campaign promise from Tuberville to donate every penny of his congressional salary to veterans. After more than two years, that amounts to over $400,000.

"I stand with our veterans and I’m going to donate every dime I make when I’m in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama. Folks, they deserve it. They deserve it a lot more than most of us," the Republican senator said in a 2019 Facebook video.

According to Tuberville's camp, his own veteran-centered charity, the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, paused its efforts in recent years due to an audit and other issues.

"You may have learned by now that there were serious problems with the Foundation for a number of years, and that the Foundation came under audit. My understanding is that during the audit, the Foundation paused most of its activities," his communications director, Steven Stafford, told the Post.

Stafford vowed that Tuberville would keep his earlier promise.

"Coach is in the process of reforming the Foundation," he said. "He has already completely replaced the Board of Directors; he is resuming activities with the Foundation, and he will keep his promise to the veterans of Alabama."

The criticism comes as Tuberville is at the center of controversy for holding up well over 200 military promotions in protest of a Department of Defense health care policy that provides travel reimbursement for military service members who need to travel out of a state they are stationed in to receive abortion care.

The department's health care policy was updated following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has called Tuberville holding up key military nominations a "national security issue."