Hegseth Tells Democrats They're the 'Biggest Adversary'

During a testy six-hour appearance before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Democratic lawmakers they were a bigger adversary than Iran. Testifying alongside Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth asked lawmakers to approve a $1.5 trillion military budget. In his first appearance before Congress since the Iran war began, Hegseth rejected claims that the war is a "quagmire," calling it "an existential fight" and insisting the administration is "proud of this undertaking," the Guardian reports.

• The real problem, he said, is at home: "The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans." Those lines, which were not in his prepared remarks, drew sharp pushback in a hearing already marked by hallway protests branding Caine and Hegseth war criminals.

• The war's price tag is climbing fast. Pentagon budget chief Jules Hurst III told lawmakers the war has cost the US an estimated $25 billion so far, largely in munitions, operations, maintenance, and equipment replacement. Republicans led by Chair Mike Rogers signaled support for the $1.5 trillion blueprint, calling it a realistic price for deterrence and highlighting a proposed 7% pay bump for junior troops.
• Democrats questioned both oversight of a 50–60% spending jump and the diplomatic fallout from the war, with Rep. Adam Smith warning the US is "pushing away" allies even as it asks NATO to help.
• Lawmakers also forced Hegseth to confront one of the war's most controversial moments: the strike on a school in the Iranian city of Minab that Tehran says killed at least 168 people, most of them children. "We made a mistake and that happens in war," said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. "Two months after it happened, we refused to say anything about it, giving the world the impression that we just don't care." Hegseth said the "unfortunate situation remains under investigation."
• Smith also clashed with Hegseth when the defense secretary said Iran's nuclear facilities were "obliterated" in US strikes last year. "We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat," said Smith. "Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated?" Hegseth told Smith that Iran had not abandoned its nuclear ambitions.

• Hegseth refused to say how much longer the war could last or how much it could cost. "My generation understands how long we were in Iraq, how long we were in Afghanistan, how long we were in Vietnam," said Hegseth, who was born in 1980.
• He also sidestepped questions about rising gas prices, the AP reports. When Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander asked whether Hegseth knew the average price of a gallon of gas, he told the lawmaker from New Hampshire that it's "much higher in California." Rep. Ro Khanna asked, "Do you know how much it will cost Americans in terms of their increased cost in gas and food over the next year because of the Iran war?" Hegseth replied, "I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb."
• The defense secretary repeatedly talked over Democratic lawmakers during their allotted time. One of the tensest moments came when Rep. John Garamendi slammed Hegseth for "astounding incompetence" and said Trump "has gotten himself and America stuck in a quagmire of another war in the Middle East," the Guardian reports. "You call it a quagmire, handing propaganda to our enemies? Shame on you for that statement," Hegseth said.
• Hegseth also faced pushback from Republican lawmakers over the firing or forced retirement of numerous senior military officers, the Washington Post reports. He refused to answer questions about the recent ousting of Gen. Randy George, the Army's chief of staff. "We had a huge bipartisan majority here that had confidence in the Army chief of staff and the secretary of the Navy," said GOP Rep. Don Bacon.