ng on ships for  much longer.  Trump said the admiral assured him that the Lincoln is  beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.  Trump did not name the admiral.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also had said that conditions about the Lincoln were  completely misrepresented. 

Gillibrand took aim at both in a statement released this week in response to Cao's letter.

 What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as  fake news' turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members,  she stated.

RELATED STORY | US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln

 Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect,  Gillibrand said.  That this administration can find endless taxpayer dollars for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires, but cannot take care of our service members, is completely unacceptable. 

Extended deployments of carriers wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment. The Navy is continuing to enforce a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war.