'It's the incompetence!': Hegseth ROASTED by House Democrats in Armed Services hearing

Today, the Secretary of Defense testified to Congress for the first time since his boss started a war with no stated purpose, no strategy, and no clear endgame 58 days ago.And during that testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee, Pete Hexeth reminded all of us that during this time of war, we have the most unqualified, the most unprepared, and the most clownish person ever to serve in that role.

Do you think we're winning?Militarily, on the battlefield, it's been an astounding military success.But are we winning the war?Absolutely.

Okay, so do you call Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz winning?

Well, I would say the blockade that we hold that doesn't allow anything to come in or out of Iranian ports, which is always in our portfolio to use.

So they blockaded us, and then we blockaded their blockade.That's like saying, tag, you're it.

I mean, what?I mean, good on Congressman Moulton for keeping a straight face during that exchange, of course.But it didn't stop there.There's much more.And before I play this next one, remember for months now, months, Hegseth and the entire Trump administration have justified the need for the war with Iran by saying that Iran was dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon.That's been their mantra.

Now, today, Hegseth couldn't seem to keep that story straight.

Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated, underground, they're buried, and we're watching them 24 -7.So we know where any nuclear material could be, we're watching it.

We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat.Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated?

They had not given up their nuclear ambitions.

I mean, the look on Adam Smith's face says it all.OK, so with that logic, bombing is not about destroying the facilities.It's about making it happen.up their ambitions through bombing.How does that work exactly?And then there was what he had to say about the cost of the war.

What the previous administration did to our economy?

What the previous administration did with inflation?What the previous administration did with COVID?And you're going to lecture this administration about the economy?Incredible.You didn't even do the analysis on how much it's costing the American people.You don't even know what the average American is paying.

You don't know what we paid in terms of the missiles that hit the Iranian school.You don't know what we're paying in terms of gas.You don't know what we're paying in terms of food.Your 25 billion number is totally off.It's the incompetence.

And in a hearing that had a lot of alarming moments, the most damning one came when Hegseth was asked about the six Army Reserve soldiers who were killed by an Iranian drone striking Kuwait on the first day of the war.It remains the deadliest attack on U .S.forces since the Iran war began.Six troops were killed.Dozens were wounded.

And at the time, this was how Hegseth explained what happened.

You have air defenses, and a lot's coming in, and you hit most of it, and we absolutely do.We have incredible air defenders.Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter that makes its way through, and in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.

It appears that was a lie.Survivors of the attack told CBS News that area was not fortified.In fact, this particular unit was left dangerously exposed, as they described it.One soldier raised serious questions about why he and other troops were moved to this command post in Kuwait, which U .S.intelligence showed was on an Iranian target list.

And in the interview I'm about to show you, CBS hid that soldier's identity.he was speaking out without the military's permission.

We moved closer to Iran, to a deeply unsafe area that was a known target.So what was the reason that you were told for why you needed to be there?I don't think there was a good reason ever articulated.

This horrific tragedy and that disgusting response from Pete Hegseth, all of it came to a head today when Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan of New York, a combat veteran and Bronze Star recipient, got his five minutes with Hegseth.

Head wounds, heavy bleeding, and then just shrapnel all over.So folks are bleeding from their abdomen, bleeding from arms, bleeding from legs.Secretary Hegseth, do you know who said that?I'm not sure I do.It was one of our soldiers.describing the devastating Iranian drone strike at Port Chueba.

Prior to the attack, officers on the ground knew our troops were vulnerable.In fact, they requested additional force protection.Did they receive it?

Wherever humanly possible, force protection and counter -UAS was always made available.

They did not.

Now, Congressman Ryan was just getting started, and things only got more heated and tense from there.

So let's be clear, no counter -drone capabilities, no counter -rocket systems, no counter -mortar or counter -artillery, not even the basic overhead protection that you and I had 20 years ago in Iraq, and now six of our soldiers are dead.The next day, you downplayed the attack.You said it was a squirter that squeaked through fortified defenses.So are you saying that these soldiers, our soldiers, who survived this horrific attack are lying?

What I'm saying is before the commencement of the conflict, we put in maximum defensive posture we could.That's a direct contradiction to what they said.In this directing...Can I speak or are you just going to monologue falsehoods all over the place?It's not a falsehood.We moved 7 ,500 troops off of the X based on the intel.

Stop.Based on the intel.

Stop.Reclaiming my time.

Because you yell doesn't make you right.

Are you brawling?Just because you yell doesn't make you right.I'm reclaiming my time on behalf of these survivors.You just said what they said is a falsehood.

Hexoth appeared to be performing grossly for an audience of one, as usual, knowing Donald Trump was likely watching.But to everyone else, he just looked like a liar and a fool.Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Pat Ryan of New York.What was going through your head?

The brazenness of literally These are surviving troops who, by the way, were so intimidated by Hegseth's sort of fear and intimidation campaign that they came forward, but they felt that they needed to be anonymized for their own protection.And I know a big part of that was they felt like him not taking this seriously.I mean, we have 50 ,000 more troops right now in the theater.And if we don't learn those lessons, that's putting them all at risk.And to see Hegseth just try to basically bully his way through that, rather than taking accountability, it was pathetic.And so I was pissed.

Not just personally, but you think about those soldiers we lost, the 30 wounded, their families.It's just so disrespectful.

We've seen you speak at campaign events passionately.We've seen you speak on the floor about a range of issues.It seems like Secretary Hexeth particularly gets under your skin.and what he has to say.Tell us more about that.

It is both personal, but it's personal because I really do think him being in this position of such grave responsibility and seriousness is just such an insult.to the people that are serving, that are doing the right things, that are doing it in an apolitical way, from a patriotic place of good faith.And then he comes in there today, for example, and in his opening remarks, deliberately chooses to say our greatest threat is not China or Russia or Iran, who we're at war with, by the way.It's Democrats and some Republicans, he said.who are whatever he said, whatever garbage BS he said.I mean, that just, that in and of itself is both stunning and tells you everything you need to know about how he thinks about his job.

It was, I found it also stunning.And it was at the very beginning of the hearing.Set the tone.And just thinking about how many secretaries of defense we've heard testify, it completely stood out to me as well.There were so many different moments during this hearing, which I think exposed a lot for the public about what's going on here.You and I have talked about this a fair amount.

One of your Democratic colleagues, Congresswoman Houlihan, asked Hegseth to basically just give an order of magnitude.of how much longer he thought it would take before the operation concluded.He said he wouldn't say how long he'd be—he'd be committed to the mission.He just wouldn't give any sort of a timeline, like, we're not going to telegraph that to the enemy.That is something I think every single person watching right now, every person in this country, would love to have a sense of.These are men and women who are serving our resources and so many other impacts.

What did you make of that refusal?

Every day, every American is paying the price.Some in blood and lives lost.All of us.at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and so on and so forth.And they've tried to do this bizarre, logical pretzel twist where they say, oh, remember how long it took in Iraq and Afghanistan and World War II he talked about?

And Vietnam.

Today.And then at the same time, but these are different.These are different.And what we're trying to say is, no, we're actually concerned that you're setting us up for that same sort of year -after -year quagmire situation that I served and fought in and that we all learned in Iraq and Afghanistan was not what we wanted to do.So it's like cognitive dissonance at a level that can only be explained by this blind fealty to Trump.And Hegseth's whole performance today, and it was a performance, was an audience of one to keep his own job and not do his job, which is care for our troops and keep the American people safe.

I wanted to play you a question that your Democratic colleague—you were sitting there, but for people who didn't see it, Congressman Moulton asked today on Hex has no quarter comments.And we've talked about this before.So I just wanted to play this and get your thoughts about how he responded.

In a press conference, you said, we will give them no quarter, no mercy.In order for no quarter or no survivors is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.You understand that's murder.Do you stand by that statement?

The Department of War fights to win, and we ensure that our warfighters have the rules of engagement necessary to be as effective as humanly possible, which they are.

Okay, so just to be clear, you called Democratic members of Congress to be tried for sedition for reminding our troops to follow the law, but when you tell them to commit a war crime, you stand by yourself.For insinuating that the law is..

.You could kind of see the disgust on Congressman Moulton's face there, but what did you make of that moment?

Again, a moment of deep hypocrisy.Hegseth himself in 2016publicly reminded us that soldiers and military folks are required to follow lawful orders.But now that he's in this position, again, fealty to Trump comes first.And it is disgust, especially for those of us that served in uniform.He has brought in office we all held in such great regard, the Secretary of Defense, where you want a wise, sober, serious leader.

down to not even in a weekday Fox News host, a weekend Fox News host.And that's, again, what we saw on display today.