Gillibrand Statement On Secretary Of The Navy Admission That 8 Service Members Attempted Suicide In The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group

Gillibrand Statement On Secretary Of The Navy Admission That 8 Service Members Attempted Suicide In The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group

Sep 24, 2026

Trump Dismissed Previous Concerns About Ship Conditions And Soldiers' Well-Being As "Fake News"

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, released the following statement regarding the September 22 response letter she received from Acting United States Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao in which he confirmed that 8 sailors in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had attempted suicide. This came after administration officials and the president dismissed families' and soldiers' complaints about conditions on board the ship. The response follows the August 2026 letter that Gillibrand and 14 of her colleagues sent to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for transparency after reporting detailed dismal conditions for sailors on board the USS Abraham Lincoln.

"What Trump and Secretary Hegsethdismissed as 'fake news' turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members," said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect. That this administration can find endless taxpayer dollars for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires, but cannot take care of our service members, is completely unacceptable."

In the response letter, Acting Secretary Cao wrote, "Since the beginning of Lincoln's deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group - this number includes the Lincoln crew and Sailors from the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers, and all embarked aviation squadrons."

The letter detailed one particular suicide attempt, in which "one Sailor attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates. That Sailor was also provided immediate medical care and subsequently returned to homeport."

The full response can be read HERE.

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