WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth went to rhetorical war Thursday with Democrats during a combative Senate hearing, where he fielded tough questions about his military purge, concerns about insider trading, the conflict in Iran, and more.
The famously feisty Pentagon chief was joined by a calm Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in testifying about President Trump’s eye-watering $1.5 trillion defense budget request for fiscal year 2027.
Their appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee quickly became a platform for Democrats to air out their long list of grievances.
“Mr. Secretary, this is your first public appearance before this committee in nearly a year,” ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) gumbled. “Since your last public testimony, you and President Trump have unwisely taken the United States to war with Iran.”
“You ordered an attack on Venezuela and have directed an ongoing illegal boat strike campaign,” he added. “Our forces have bombed Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and Ecuador. In the United States, you have deployed thousands of troops to cities like Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.”
“These actions will have significant and long-term consequences.”
Hegseth remained defiant, at one point sniping that “the biggest adversary we face at this point is the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans” who “seek to undermine” the war in Iran.
Democrats on the panel prioritize different grievances to whack him with in their limited time.
“In just the space of minutes, it looks like insiders have been making out like bandits, using secret information about the war,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) groused.
Warren peppered Hegseth with questions about conspicuously well-timed trades on Polymarket and oil-related purchases, which the war secretary argued wasn’t his lane. She also pressed him about whether his broker was told to purchase defense stocks.
“I’ll give it to you as a big fat negative,” Hegseth shot back.
Of particular concern for many Democrats was Hegseth’s purging of dozens of senior U.S. military officers throughout his tenure as Pentagon honcho.
Reed noted that “60% are black or female” and argued they were “fired for reasons unrelated to performance.” But Hegseth insisted his “only metric is merit” and declined to talk about the nature of why they were asked to step down.
Even one Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), raised concerns about the firings, harping on firing former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Gen. James “Jim” Mingus as Vice Chief of Staff, in particular. She read through a list of their achievements.
“I was disappointed to see that their retirements were hastened, over what I believed had been set out by you and the administration,” she said.
Hegseth also fielded concerns from Democrats about the Pentagon’s use of artificial intelligence to conduct military operations, given the row between Hegseth and Anthropic.
“AI is not making lethal decisions,” the secretary of war assured senators.
Hegseth was testifying before the panel to make the case for a close to 50% increase in the Pentagon’s budget request, something Trump championed.
The secretary of war underscored how the military industrial base has eroded over time and framed the bigger budget as a generational investment in national security.
“President Trump inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America’s last policies, resulting in diminished capacity to project strength,” Hegseth said. “We are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a war footing.”
The war in Iran was also top of mind for senators, ahead of the supposed Friday deadline for Trump to seek congressional reauthorization in keeping with the War Powers Act of 1973, which requires presidents to get approval after 60 days.
But Hegseth suggested that it won’t be necessary due to the ongoing cease-fire with Iran.
“I would defer to the White House and White House Counsel on that,” Hegseth told Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) when asked if the president would ask Congress for reauthorization.
“However, we are in a ceasefire right now,” he added. “The 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire…that’s our understanding, just so you know.”
