Senator Mike Lee took aim at Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin over his department’s handling of the case of US Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who will have his pay cut while serving a controversial three-year sentence in prison in Japan.
“Secretary Austin cruelly informed me that day that the policy exception request would not be granted,” Lee, a Utah Republican, said in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, according to a report in Stripes. “I asked him why. He didn’t think it was appropriate for the department to do that.”
Lee’s 23-minute speech comes as the Defense Department said it will deny a request by Alkonis to extend his salary and allowances while he serves his jail term in Japan, a move Lee said would cause the officer’s wife and their children, who are still in prison. Japan, to be “kicked to the curb” as Christmas approaches.
Alkonis, who is based at Yokosuka Naval Base, was convicted of careless driving by Japanese courts in October 2021 after he was involved in a car accident that year that resulted in the deaths of two people.
WIFE OF JAILED NAVY LIEUTENANT IN JAPAN BEGGS WITH BIDEN TO SECURE HIS RELEASE: ‘DOD HAS ABANDONED HIM’
Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis and a family member.
(Screenshot from ‘Fox News @ Night’)
In his appeal, Alkonis argued that he suddenly came down with acute mountain sickness after driving his family through Fujinomiya after a hiking trip to Mount Fuji, causing him to lose consciousness. But his conviction was upheld by the Tokyo High Court, despite Alkonis providing evidence that both a general practitioner and a neurologist diagnosed him with the disease after the accident.
“Why is he in prison in Japan? Did he steal something? Did he hurt anyone? No, none of the above,” Lee said in his speech in the courtroom. “This was not a criminal act; It was a medical emergency that resulted in a tragedy, and I’m sad that it turned out that way.”
The Senator added that Alkonis suffered from a “rare medical condition that he didn’t know he had; he couldn’t have known he had this medical condition. It caused him to lose consciousness at the time.”
Lee argued that the Defense Department should make an exemption for Alkonis, citing part of the law that allows the payment to continue in “unavoidable situations.”
NAVY LIEUTENANT SENTENCED IN JAPAN PROVOCES PROTEST AMONG FAMILY AND US LAW LAW
Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah.
(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
“It seems to me that if there was ever an instance perfectly suited to this statute or an absence that should be excused as unavoidable, it is Lt. Ridge Alkonis,” Lee said.
The Utah senator said if the department doesn’t approve the waiver, he should officially deny the guilty plea and be forced to explain his decision to Congress, where Lee said there would be bipartisan support for changing the law.
“Of course, this is a no-brainer,” Lee said.
Brittany Alkonis, the Navy officer’s wife, expressed optimism that Congress will work to find a solution in a social media post Friday.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
((Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images))
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“I have had the pleasure of speaking with enough members of Congress to believe [Lee] when he says if the Department of Defense doesn’t act, Congress will,” he said.
The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
