Hegseth Gets HOSTILE As Congress DEMANDS Iran War ANSWERS

0:00 What a jarring, disorienting day for Pete Hegseth here.

0:04 May have been a big change of pace

0:06 and change of culture for the Defense Secretary.

0:08 I'll explain why in a moment, but please hit that subscribe button.

0:11 Keep supporting independent journalism.

0:13 Here at the House Rayburn Building,

0:16 under questioning of the House Armed Services Committee,

0:18 Pete Hegseth, his truthfulness was questioned.

0:21 He was told he needs to resign, and he was at one point called incompetent.

0:26 Here's New York Democrat Pat Ryan shouting down Hegseth,

0:30 something Hegseth must be very unaccustomed to.

0:32 Brave survivors have come forward to set the record straight.

0:37 One of our surviving soldiers told CBS, quote,

0:41 "Painting a picture that one squeaked through

0:45 is a falsehood." Another said the unit was,

0:50 quote, "unprepared to provide any defense for itself.

0:55 It was not a fortified position." Another survivor said

0:59 the building's protection was about as weak as one gets.

1:04 Secretary Hegseth, that is obviously in direct contradiction to what

1:08 you said from the Pentagon podium the next day.

1:11 So, are you saying that these soldiers,

1:14 our soldiers, who survived this horrific attack are lying?

1:20 What I'm saying is before the commencement of of the conflict,

1:24 we put in maximum defensive posture we could.

1:27 contradiction to what they said.

1:29 this in this direct I Can I speak or are you just

1:31 going to monologue falsehoods all all over the place?

1:34 It's not a falsehood.

1:35 We moved 7,500 troops off of the base based on the intel.

1:39 Based on the intel.

1:39 Stop.

1:40 Reclaiming my time.

1:41 Because you yell doesn't make you right.

1:44 Just cuz you yell doesn't make you right.

1:45 my time on behalf of these survivors.

1:48 You just said what they said is a falsehood.

1:51 There's a much larger picture.

1:52 There's a much larger picture at play here.

1:54 Listen to this exchange with San Diego Democrat Sara Jacobs,

1:57 who questioned Hegseth about Trump's mental well-being,

2:01 and then Hegseth's mental well-being.

2:04 So, Mr.

2:04 Secretary, you are with the president a lot.

2:07 And it pains me to even have to ask this about our president,

2:11 but my constituents' lives are at stake.

2:14 Do you believe that the president is mentally

2:16 stable enough to be the commander in chief?

2:19 Um Did you ask the same question of Joe Biden for 4 years?

2:22 Mr.

2:23 Secretary, Joe Biden is not the president.

2:25 Mr.

2:25 Trump has been president for a year and a half, and I'm asking you right now.

2:28 And I won't even engage with the level

2:30 of disparagement that you're putting on the commander in chief,

2:32 who indeed uh is I I mean every I mean Mr.

2:36 Secretary, Mr.

2:38 Secretary, Biden is not the president.

2:40 most insightful commander in chief we've had in generations.

2:42 And you want to compare I mean, you want to ask that question after

2:45 you and your fellow Democrats defended Joe Biden, who could barely speak and Mr.

2:49 Secretary, as you know, as you know,

2:52 We had a secretary of defense who went AWOL for a week.

2:55 I can't speak on for 10 day for 10 minutes.

2:58 reclaim my time.

2:59 gentlelady's time She's reclaimed.

3:00 At the White House, Trump defended the war

3:02 in Iran and championed this ongoing blockade,

3:07 even though it's doing quite a number on gas prices.

3:09 The blockade is genius, okay?

3:12 The blockade has been 100% fool proof.

3:14 It shows how good our Navy is.

3:16 I can tell you that.

3:17 Nobody's going to play games.

3:19 We have the greatest military in the world,

3:21 and I built much of it during my first term, and we've been building it since.

3:25 And the greatest anywhere in the world.

3:27 Nobody even close.

3:28 And uh And you see that every whether it's Venezuela,

3:33 which to And they have a good military in Venezuela, but it was over in one day.

3:37 It was actually over in about 48 minutes.

3:40 Uh Iran, the same thing.

3:42 I mean, militarily we've wiped them out.

3:44 They have no military left.

3:45 They're They're It's all The Navy's at the bottom of the sea.

3:48 The Air Force is never going to fly again.

3:51 Uh We've We've got an amazing military.

3:55 Now we Now they have to cry uncle.

3:57 That's all they have to do.

3:58 Just say, "We give up." For the first time,

4:02 we actually got a estimate on the cost of all this to taxpayers.

4:06 At the House Armed Services Committee here in the Rayburn House Office Building,

4:10 a Pentagon official estimated it's cost 25 billion tax dollars so far,

4:15 and said they're likely to come back here to Congress soon for more money.

4:19 Adam Smith of Washington reacted.

4:21 Mr.

4:21 Secretary, so you're saying full cost at this point is 25 billion.

4:25 Yeah, that's our estimate for the cost.

4:27 Okay.

4:27 Interesting, cuz we I'm glad you answered that question,

4:30 cuz we've been asking for a hell of a long time,

4:31 and no one's given us the number.

4:33 Um so, if you could get those details over to us, that that would be great.

4:37 And quite an exchange between Hegseth

4:38 and Colorado Democrat Jason Crow, a military veteran.

4:42 Crow asked about Hegseth's relationship with Tim Parlatore,

4:45 an attorney who has advised Hegseth and was once in the circle of Trump.

4:50 It was heated.

4:52 Is it true that Mr.

4:53 Parlatore disparaged President Trump?

4:58 Uh I don't know what you're referring to, but no.

5:00 Is it true that Mr.

5:02 Parlatore was accused by President Trump and his lawyers of lying?

5:08 What you're accused of is a cute line of questioning that's going nowhere.

5:11 Well, it's going somewhere, which is why you're not answering the question.

5:15 Was it true that he was accused of lying by the president's legal team?

5:21 I'm not familiar to You'd have to give me the con- right here.

5:24 You want to look at the statement from President Trump and his

5:27 up a quote and claim it says something,

5:29 and that's what you're doing on a little stunt.

5:30 Secretary Hegseth, what I'm really concerned about is you

5:32 purport to be have unfaltering loyalty to President Trump,

5:36 Oh, you care a lot about President Trump, don't you?

5:40 You're going behind his back.

5:40 It's a huge waste of your 5 minutes.

5:42 A huge cute waste of your 5 minutes that led to nowhere.

5:47 You are repeatedly going behind the president's Colorado's time.

5:51 Go ahead, Mr.

5:51 Crow.

5:52 You are repeatedly going behind President Trump's back,

5:54 appointing people who he have he has accused of lying,

5:57 who the White House The gentlelady's time has expired.

6:00 And you are not being honest with us.

6:02 You are

6:02 Carolina's Tomorrow, Pete Hegseth is back here at the Capitol

6:06 to face questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

6:08 I would watch the questions from Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly in particular.

6:13 Kelly and Hegseth have been in a protracted back-and-forth.

6:16 Hegseth trying to exact revenge,

6:18 retribution against Kelly as an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.

6:22 This is what Mark Kelly said about

6:24 Pete Hegseth's testimony in front of his panel.

6:27 We have Pete Hegseth walking into the Capitol today and tomorrow,

6:30 facing questions from your colleagues.

6:33 What are you keen on them asking him?

6:35 Well, you know, I I got to figure out what I'm going to ask him, too.

6:39 You know, I'm on the Armed Services Committee.

6:41 I I'll be there in the room.

6:43 We [clears throat] We've got him in front of the committee tomorrow.

6:46 You know, what's the end game here?

6:47 You know, they they went into this without a strategic goal,

6:50 without a plan, and now they're kind of stuck.

6:53 And every time the president says, "Hey,

6:55 we're close to some kind of solution," then we're back where we started.

6:59 We've seen that happen over and over again.

7:01 The other thing is, and there's reporting on this even today,

7:04 the uh the number of munitions that we've

7:06 expended um and this Secretary of Defense,

7:10 I think people have seen this, you know,

7:12 he you know, gathers all the admirals and generals.

7:15 He talks about lethality and killing people.

7:18 And then they um this administration declares war on Iran,

7:22 and I watched him multiple times go to the camera,

7:26 you know, in a brief and talk about, "Well, we hit 10,000 targets.

7:29 Now we hit 13,000 targets." Well,

7:31 of course we've expended a huge amount of munitions

7:36 that are going to take years to replenish,

7:38 that puts our national security at risk in other theaters.

7:42 So, this was um you know, kind of handled as you would expect, you know,

7:47 somebody who is just talking about maximum lethality

7:50 and just let let's go out and kill people.

7:52 Um and now we're in a situation where we're less safe,

7:55 and we're no closer to the end of this thing than we were at the beginning.

8:00 Elsewhere today, James Comey made his first

8:02 court appearance in this new seashell case,

8:05 appearing at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

8:08 His case will shift to the Eastern

8:09 District of North Carolina in the coming days,

8:12 and you will be hard-pressed to find a lot of people

8:14 who think this case is a winner, this threats case.

8:18 And here's an indication.

8:19 Trump's most vocal ally here on Capitol Hill is Texas Republican Troy Nehls,

8:24 and even Nehls was throwing shade on this criminal case.

8:28 And you can indict anybody for any Well, what's your opinion?

8:30 Do you think that this was really a threatening message?

8:32 I think it's a Well, is it a threatening message?

8:34 I mean, what's that That's not a damn zip code.

8:37 What do you think that means?

8:39 Do you think it was worth Do you

8:40 think that they should have indicted him for that?

8:41 if somebody looks at that, and James Comey put that out there,

8:44 that's 86 right before 47.

8:47 So, we know what that We know what it means.

8:49 But is it criminal?

8:50 Is it truly a threat where it's encouraging people?

8:53 But I tell you what, though, how many times has a president ever I mean,

8:56 this is his third time they've gone after President Trump.

8:58 seem criminal to me.

8:59 The rhetoric has to stop.

9:01 Is it criminal?

9:02 I don't If you can get a jury to convict him, You're You're a former prosecutor.

9:06 to convict him, we Everybody, you know what?

9:08 Everybody went after Donald Trump and convicted him

9:10 for lesser for I mean, they had nothing.

9:12 I don't even think they had probable cause to do it.

9:14 But you can't find an honest jury in New York.

9:17 You can't find one here or a judge.

9:19 So, I just think, "Listen, it's a stretch.

9:22 It's a stretch." New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told me

9:26 this is an indication of a weaponized Department of Justice.

9:30 comment on James Comey's political prosecution.

9:32 Feels weaponized to a lot of people.

9:34 What do you think of it?

9:35 Um you know, I I I haven't seen the the latest

9:41 um what it was in the indictment of the Trump It's three pages.

9:44 Doesn't say much, but she says it's a threat.

9:46 [laughter]

9:46 I mean, if there's anything that we can learn from the first indictment,

9:49 as well as their pursuits of Tish James,

9:54 um their attempts to indict members of Congress.

9:58 This administration has clearly dissolved

10:02 the independence of the Department of Justice,

10:06 and they are turning it into an arm of political retribution.

10:10 And that is a disservice to every American because there is a lot of work,

10:15 and there are a lot of people and incidents that need to be brought to justice.

10:20 And when we dissolve the independence of the judiciary,

10:23 then it it calls everything into question

10:26 as to whether any given prosecution is politicized or not,

10:30 but I think that we've definitely seen a history

10:32 of that and a targeting of James Comey in that case.

10:34 Thank you.

10:36 Really appreciate your liking, subscribing, and commenting to these posts.

10:40 I got a comment here from Joshua who says,

10:42 "The Comey indictment is a big nothingburger,

10:46 another component of Trump's strategy." Ivy about the war in Iran says,

10:50 "$25 billion and what have we accomplished

10:53 so far?" Please keep the comments going.

10:56 They help us find the right questions,

10:58 and they help us with our independent reporting.

11:00 Really want to thank you for watching.

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