Trump on Space Command leaving Colorado: “I single-handedly” did that

Former President Donald Trump acknowledged Friday what Colorado’s political leaders have long suspected: that he single-handedly decided to move the headquarters of U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Alabama.

In the final week of Trump’s presidency, the U.S. Air Force announced that Space Command’s headquarters would be relocated from Peterson Air Force Base to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.

Democratic and Republican officials in Colorado have opposed the move ever since and alleged it was Trump who did it. Huntsville is in the district of U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican and staunch Trump ally who led attempts in January to stop the certification of President Joe Biden‘s victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

Speaking on “Rick & Bubba,” a syndicated radio show in Alabama, Trump admitted that he was alone in deciding to move the headquarters, but confused Space Command with Space Force, a separate branch of the military.

“Space Force — I sent to Alabama,” Trump said. “I hope you know that. (They) said they were looking for a home and I single-handedly said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ They wanted it. I said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama. I love Alabama.’”

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican who represents Colorado Springs, said Trump’s remarks were “an admission” that the headquarters move “was based solely on politics and personal preference — not the Air Force’s basing criteria or national security.”

“This proves that claims by the Department of the Air Force that the decision was ‘merit-based’ are completely false,” Lamborn added. “This has been my concern all along and calls into question the entire (headquarters) selection process.”

The U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General are conducting separate investigations of the Air Force’s decision.

“Keeping U.S. Space Command in Colorado means protecting our national security,” Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, both Democrats, said in a statement Friday, “but it’s clear that the former president — now through his own admission — made this misguided decision for political or personal purposes.”