Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday sparred with House Democrats who repeatedly accused him of misleading the public about the Trump administration’s war in Iran and unjustly firing senior military leaders.
The six-hour House Armed Service Committee hearing, ostensibly a chance for Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to defend the administration’s record $1.5 trillion defense budget request, quickly devolved into pointed — and often personal — barbs between members of the committee and the Pentagon’s combative leader.
“The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said in his opening statement, deviating from his prepared remarks published ahead of the hearing.
Hegseth’s comments during his first public testimony since the Iran war began were aimed at lawmakers’ criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the conflict, which the Pentagon’s acting comptroller said has cost about $25 billion so far, mostly due to the thousands of munitions used to strike more than 13,000 targets in the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign.
Though a ceasefire has mostly held for the past several weeks, Washington and Tehran have stalled in their negotiations over a peace agreement that would formally end the war. President Donald Trump has demanded that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and completely shutter its nuclear program. The Iranians have said they will commit to nothing until the U.S. lifts its naval blockade of the country’s ports.
Democrats, in an attempt to frame the war as an unfair burden on American taxpayers ahead of the November midterm elections, argued the Trump administration had failed to sufficiently prepare for the conflict’s potential economic fallout and lacked a clear exit plan.
They highlighted the elevated cost of gasoline and warned that the war’s disruption of commercial shipping, including fertilizer, could lead to a spike in food prices.
“Where is this going? What is the plan to achieve our objectives?” said Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), the panel’s top Democrat, during his opening remarks.
Hegseth vehemently contested the accusations, frequently attempting to speak over Democrats during their allotted time to ask questions. The Iran war, he said, has been “an astounding military success” and is worth the cost if it means preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon — one of multiple justifications the administration has offered for starting the conflict.
“My generation understands how long we were in Iraq, how long we were in Afghanistan, how long we were in Vietnam,” he said, arguing that Democrats were undercutting the war effort after only two months.
“That’s exactly it. Is this war shaping up to be that war?” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) said in a later exchange.
Trump previously projected that the U.S. military operation could last about four or five weeks but has shifted his estimated timeline at different moments in the conflict. The administration did not ask Congress to authorize the war before beginning the attacks in late February, and Republicans have voted down multiple Democratic-led efforts to halt the fighting.
Smith, the committee’s top Democrat, also criticized the administration’s proposed defense budget, arguing the enormous sum is unrealistic given the country’s nearly $40 trillion debt. Many Democrats have already signaled they will oppose such a high number, though the Pentagon — and many congressional Republicans — contend that the total is necessary to restock munitions expended during the Iran war and keep pace with U.S. adversaries like Russia and China.
Hegseth is set to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, where he is expected to face similar questions regarding the war in Iran and his management of the Pentagon.
One of the most critical Republican comments came from Rep. Austin Scott (Georgia), who objected to Hegseth’s removal this month of the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, and said that he had sent the Pentagon a letter requesting answers on the issue.
Hegseth repeatedly refused to answer questions about his reasoning for seeking the general’s retirement before the end of his four-year term. Since taking over the Pentagon last year, the secretary has purged the military’s senior ranks of numerous generals and admirals, often without public explanation.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), a frequent critic of the administration, also called attention to the firing or forced retirement of so many senior military officers under Hegseth’s leadership, and noted that the committee shared “bipartisan concern” about the dismissals.
“It’s very difficult to change the culture of a department that has been destroyed by the wrong perspectives with the same officers that were there,” Hegseth said under further questioning from Houlahan.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Virginia), who has a strong Navy presence in her district, separately asked Hegseth to explain the firing last week of John Phelan as Navy secretary, a move that Democrats and Republicans have openly questioned while the service branch is at war.
“It was time for new leadership and a new direction as far as running fast toward those objectives” for the Navy, Hegseth said. “Personnel is policy,” he continued.
When asked about the Pentagon’s choice to remove several Army officers from a list that slated them for promotion to brigadier general, Hegseth said that the decision was part of a larger review of military promotion boards.
“I anticipate other officers will be removed also,” Hegseth said.
Mariana Alfaro, Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe, Scott Nover, Sammy Westfall and Amy B Wang contributed to this report.
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