Mikie Sherrill Asks Pete Hegseth About 3 Areas Of His 'Incompetence' As Secretary Of Defense

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) questioned Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth about his running of the Department of Defense.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Higseth, Chairman Cain, thank you both for being here

00:07today. Mr. Secretary, your testimony over the last several days before Congress, I've heard

00:12you speak about all of your supposed accomplishments from your time at the Pentagon. I have to

00:17say your training at Fox News has let you spend months of dangerous dysfunction and incompetence

00:22into catchy phrases like restoring the warrior ethos and increasing lethality. But the truth

00:29is it's really been chaos at the Pentagon under your leadership. You've clearly shown you're

00:34unable to manage the Department of Defense, but what I'm most concerned about are three

00:38specific areas, your operational incompetence, your managerial incompetence, and your budgetary

00:44incompetence. So let's start with operational. According to news reports in your first week

00:49on the job, you got confused in a National Security Council meeting and thought President

00:54Trump wanted you to stop all aid to Ukraine. In a well-functioning administration, you would

00:59have asked for clarification before making that seismic policy shift, but instead you ordered

01:04vital military aid heading to the front lines, turned around, costing the U.S. millions of

01:10dollars, and depriving Ukrainian soldiers of equipment they needed to fight Russia. So,

01:15Mr. Secretary, can you explain how exactly you misunderstood such a monumental presidential order?

01:21One of many fake news headlines we've dealt with.

01:28So, President Trump told you to halt military aid to Ukraine on January 30th?

01:34As is often the case, highly ideological and very ill-informed reporters love to speculate about

01:41things they know nothing about in order to spear President Trump and myself.

01:45So, it sounds like actually the reporting is correct, because I will say, if it wasn't,

01:51why, if it wasn't a mistake, why did aid restart only a few days later?

01:57Again, we would take complete issue with what would some call reporting and others call a hatchet

02:03job.

02:06So, why did aid start just a couple days later?

02:09I'm saying the reporting is inaccurate, ma'am.

02:15I don't think that's correct.

02:17So, let's move on to your managerial incompetence.

02:19I think we can see why you misunderstood the President, because you're obviously

02:22misunderstanding my questions.

02:24Less than a month into the job, you fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, C.Q.

02:28Brown, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Lisa Franchetti, without cause.

02:33And to this day, you still have not provided an adequate explanation for removing them.

02:37As far as I can tell, you fired C.Q. Brown, because he was black, and Lisa Franchetti,

02:42because she is a woman.

02:44So, nearly four months later, we still don't have a new nominee for Chief of Naval Operations.

02:48News reports, and you can contest it, but I'd love to hear your answer, say that you haven't

02:53nominated someone, because qualified admirals keep turning the position down.

02:58So, tell me, Mr. Secretary, when will Congress receive your nomination for the next Chairman

03:04of the Naval, the next Chief of Naval Operations?

03:08Ma'am, with all due respect, I would suggest not believing every headline you read.

03:12With all due respect, I'd like your nomination.

03:14When will we see it?

03:16There is not a single Admiral or any military official has turned down a position that's been

03:22So, when will we see your nominee for the Chief of Naval Operations?

03:25In due time, for all the right reasons.

03:28Again, I think we've seen the managerial incompetence.

03:31Okay, let's move on to budgetary incompetence.

03:33You missed the deadline to submit a draft defense budget to Congress, which makes it impossible

03:37for us to complete our work on the NDAA or appropriations, and makes it more likely you'll

03:42receive delays in funding you need for new acquisitions, programs, and other priorities.

03:48Additionally, you're blowing money on poorly conceived operations and vanity projects

03:52for President Trump. Retrofitting the Qatari jet to serve as Air Force One will cost about

03:57$400 million. The parade in D.C. this weekend will cost upwards of $40 million.

04:03Your bombing campaign in Yemen cost about $1 billion, and a week later they were having

04:08missile strikes in Israel. Your operations in L.A. will cost tens of millions of dollars,

04:12and you claim to be cutting costs at the Pentagon. But all I see are wasted dollars better spent

04:18addressing our most pressing threats, like China. So, Mr. Secretary, what priorities have

04:23you cut funding for to pay for these projects?

04:28Ma'am, I would just say your list left off securing the southern border.

04:33So, Mr. Secretary, what priorities have you cut funding for to pay for these projects?

04:40We make trade-offs every day, and I would imagine what we want to spend on is quite different

04:45than what the previous administration did. We made those changes quickly, and they're

04:49reflected in this budget, and we're very proud of them.

04:52I think the American people can see why I'm so concerned about this incompetence.

04:55Thank you, and I yield back.

Category

Transcript

Recommended