HEATED MOMENTS DURING PETE HEGSETH’S TESTIMONY TO HOUSE LAWMAKERS ON IRAN WAR

[0:00] Ranking Member Smith, distinguished members of the committee, we appreciate the opportunity to testify in full support of President Trump's historic $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of War. [0:16] The President's budget request reflects the urgency of the moment, addressing both the deferment of longstanding problems as well as positioning our forces for both the current and the future fight. [0:31] We think divesting to invest is a strategy of austerity. [0:36] I'm honored to appear alongside General Dan Cain, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Jay Hurst, our Comptroller, our Chief Financial Officer. [0:45] I'd like to start by thanking this committee and Congress for your partnership in securing the investments needed for a stronger, prouder, and more secure America. [0:55] I think what our troops have demonstrated to the world over the last 15 months are a reflection of that. [1:01] A nation's ability to build, innovate, and support the critical needs of its warfighters at speed and at scale is the foundation upon which its survival rests. [1:14] However, upon taking office on January 20th, 2025, President Trump inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America last policies, resulting in a diminished ability to project strength. [1:30] Under the previous administration, we were focused on offshoring and outsourcing, riddled with cost overruns and degraded capabilities. [1:40] Under the leadership of President Trump, our builder-in-chief, we are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defense industrial base back on a wartime footing. [1:51] If you ask anyone at our Pentagon, urgency informs everything we do. [1:56] We're rebuilding a military that the American people can be proud of, one that instills nothing less than unrelenting fear in our adversaries and the utmost confidence in our allies. [2:06] We fight to win in every scenario. [2:10] The $1.5 trillion FY27 budget put forward by the President will build upon the historic $1 trillion FY26 top line and continue to reverse the four years of underinvestment and mismanagement of the Biden administration. [2:29] The $1.5 trillion budget will ensure the United States continues to maintain the world's most powerful and capable military as we grapple with a complex threat environment across multiple theaters. [2:41] Not to mention, this budget also includes a historic troop pay increase, 7% for lower enlisted, and the budget eliminates all poor or failing barracks. [2:55] Quality of life for our troops is front and center in this budget as well. [2:59] By supercharging our industrial capability and transforming how the department does business, we're restoring American commercial dominance at a pace unseen in generations, transforming the defense industrial base from a broken, slow-moving system of the past. [3:18] We have flipped the Pentagon acquisition process from a bureaucratic model to a business model, 180, decisively moving from an acquisition environment paralyzed by bureaucratic red tape into an outcomes-driven organization focused on delivering the most at cost, at scale, for taxpayer dollars. [3:42] Over the past year, through historic multi-year procurement agreements, smart business deals for things like critical munitions and capabilities, we've sent an unambiguous demand signal to industry partners to build more and build faster. [3:59] The result has been a surge, a revitalization of our great American factories and a massive reinvestment in the skilled American workers who serve as the industrial muscle behind our warriors. [4:13] Let me briefly provide you with some concrete high-level metrics of what's been accomplished over just the past few months. [4:21] These are announced new facilities and investments to support American warfighters, and I would refer you to the screen. [4:29] The department has helped stimulate more than 250 private investment deals in 39 states, in 180 cities, and 150 companies worth more than $50 billion. [4:41] It's resulted in 280 new or expanded facilities, more than 18 million new square feet of American manufacturing, and more than 70,000 new jobs in defense. [4:56] This is the key part of this. [4:59] These $50 billion of investment in new plants, new assembly lines, and new factories, these are private investments, not taxpayer dollars. [5:10] By changing our departments, transforming our departments' business model, American companies are investing in America with their own money, their own capital, a historic demonstration of American manufacturing and defense revitalization, all again with their capital, not Uncle Sam's. [5:33] This has never been done before and is long overdue from a bureaucratic model to a business model. [5:39] Anyone on the outside looking in at what's been done inside this Pentagon in the last 12 months cannot deny the fundamental transformation at speed, at scale, to innovate and meet the threats of today and tomorrow. [5:53] These investments equal great things for America, American families, and American workers, and help to ensure that our warfighters are able to defend the American dream and all American made. [6:04] Together with the help of the policies, updates, and appropriations passed by Congress, President Trump's War Department has begun to turn the lights back on in manufacturing towns across this country, and once again, forging a lethal arsenal of freedom. [6:21] Where critical supply chains are threatened, the War Department has acted decisively to inject capital, stimulate production, and prevent adversarial exploitation. [6:30] We are firing up the American economic engine, and at every level of our defense industrial base. [6:36] Every policy we pursue, every budgetary item we request, serves to ensure the Department remains laser-focused on increasing lethality and survivability of our forces from the front lines to the factory floors. [6:50] This is a historic budget, as you said, Mr. Chairman. [6:54] This is a fiscally responsible budget. [6:58] This is a warfighting budget. [7:00] And speaking of warfighting, the topic of Iran I'm sure will come up today, which I very much welcome discussing. [7:09] I look forward to sharing the incredible successes of our military, achieved in a matter of weeks. [7:16] President Trump, unlike other presidents, has had the courage to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, and he's ironclad in that. [7:24] We're the best negotiator in the world driving that deal. [7:27] The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless, and defeatist words of Congressional Democrats and some Republicans. [7:41] Two months in, I remind you, two months in to a conflict. [7:45] Lest I remind you, and my generation understands how long we were in Iraq, how long we were in Afghanistan, how long we were in Vietnam, two months in, on an existential fight for the safety of the American people, Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb. [8:01] We are proud of this undertaking. [8:03] I am proud that President Trump has had the courage to do it, and I look forward to sharing more about what our troops have accomplished. [8:11] So I thank you again for the opportunity to address this committee. [8:14] I ask that God would continue to watch over our troops in harm's way, and those that have fallen are always in our memory, and we fight to ensure their legacy. [8:24] Look forward to answering the questions of this committee. [8:26] As the grateful father of four sons who have served overseas in Iraq, Egypt, and Afghanistan, I especially appreciate War Secretary Hicks, Seth, and Chief of Staff Kane for your competence, service, and success. [8:38] Military families have never been more appreciated than today, and our enemies of dictators now understand peace through strength. [8:46] Dictators historically are on the run. [8:48] With your leadership, President Trump has given Syria a chance, with President al-Shawar replacing dictator Assad from Damascus, who now lives in Moscow. [8:58] Dictator Maduro is correctly in a Manhattan jail, as you successfully revealed in Caracas that the war criminal Putin air defenses do not work, the Chinese Communist Party radar failed, and Cuban mercenaries were expendable. [9:12] The Cuban dictatorship is failing, and the ultimate mass murderer, dictator Khomeini, is dead in Tehran, Iran, joining the 35,000 people he murdered this year. [9:24] With your leadership, American morale has never been higher, and hopes for freedom of the oppressed people of Iran, Cuba, Russia, and China have never been higher. [9:35] And it's just an exciting time to be here with you, and Mr. Secretary, we continue to see the growing nuclear threat of our adversaries as they expand their capabilities with the largest military buildup in peacetime in world history by the Chinese Communist Party. [9:51] How critical is it that we continue, as at the Savannah River site in South Carolina, to develop the plutonium pit processing so that we have modernization? [10:02] Well, Congressman, I appreciate that question. [10:06] On nuclear modernization, this budget funds $71 billion to modernize the triad in ways that we had neglected to do, and our nuclear triad underwrites everything. [10:18] But I really appreciate your opening statement. [10:21] I think something that, obviously, the media doesn't want to cover and doesn't want to talk about is the historic, record-breaking surge in recruiting in our ranks. [10:30] 30-year record in recruiting of Americans wanting to join our joint force, wanting to put the uniform on. [10:38] We're meeting recruiting goals halfway through the year. [10:41] We couldn't meet our recruiting goals under the previous administration. [10:45] Under Joe Biden, Americans didn't want to join the military. [10:48] We couldn't get it. [10:49] Now we have to turn people away and push them to the next fiscal year. [10:52] That's why this budget grows our force by almost 50,000, ultimately. [10:57] Additional troops into the force that we believe we can recruit. [11:00] That's the best vote of confidence I can imagine. [11:03] Well, hey, even better. [11:05] Hey, Mr. Secretary, you're really understating. [11:08] Oh, sorry. [11:09] Leaving no airmen behind. [11:11] Hey, what an inspiration on Easter Day. [11:13] God bless y'all in what you've achieved. [11:15] Which they only built after President Trump shredded President Obama's Iran deal in 2017. [11:24] Secretary Heseth, you have been lying to the American public about this war from day one. [11:33] And so has the President. [11:34] You have misled the public about why we are at war. [11:38] You and the President have offered ever-changing reasons for this war. [11:43] You've misled the public about the progress of the war. [11:47] While the Secretary has executed this war with tactical success, the strategy has been an [11:54] astounding incompetence, doing immense economic damage to America and the world. [12:01] Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, with the personal attack on the Secretary, he should have an opportunity [12:06] to respond. [12:07] He certainly will. [12:08] It's the gentleman's time. [12:12] He can use it as he sees fit and add an extra five seconds to Mr. Garamendi's time. [12:16] Thank you. [12:17] You and the President have offered ever-changing reasons for the war. [12:21] You have misled the public about the progress of the war. [12:24] While the military has executed this war with tactical success, the strategy has been an outstanding [12:29] example of incompetence. [12:32] This war of choice is a political and economic disaster at every level. [12:37] Despite the President's promise to lower the cost of living, gas prices are up 40 percent [12:42] and inflation is soaring so much for lowering the cost of living. [12:48] The President has got himself in America stuck in the quagmire of another war in the Middle [12:52] East. [12:53] He's desperately trying to extricate himself from his own mistakes. [12:57] It is in America's and indeed the world's interest that he succeed in that. [13:03] I yield back. [13:05] So thank you for the question, the substantive question. [13:07] Ultimately, we support 3.0 ARG-MU. [13:11] That presence right now gives us a lot of flexibility. [13:14] And this budget supports moving in that direction to ensure that this administration and future [13:20] administrations have that kind of strategic flexibility with the incredible capabilities [13:24] the ARG-MU provides. [13:26] We saw it in Southern Spear. [13:27] We saw it on the Maduro raid. [13:29] We saw it. [13:29] We see it right now. [13:30] It's a persistent capability. [13:32] So I think you'll find our shipbuilding investments to meet that as well. [13:38] But if I may. [13:39] Sure. [13:39] Yeah. [13:40] I didn't get a chance. [13:40] I didn't see a question in the statement from the congressman. [13:42] I hope you appreciate how reckless it is. [13:46] When I said reckless, feckless, and defeatist of congressional Democrats at the beginning, [13:51] that came after watching you say the same thing on CNN this morning, a quagmire. [13:57] My generation served in a quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan. [13:59] And years and years of nebulous missions and utopian nation building that led us to nothing. [14:06] What we have right now, the way you stain the troops when you tell them two months in, [14:13] two months in, congressman, you should know better. [14:16] Shame on you. [14:17] Calling this a quagmire two months in. [14:20] The effort, what they've undertaken, what they've succeeded, [14:23] the success on the battlefield that could create strategic opportunities, [14:26] the courage of a president to confront a nuclear Iran, [14:28] and you call it a quagmire, handing propaganda to our enemies? [14:32] Shame on you for that statement. [14:34] And statements like that are reckless to our troops. [14:36] Don't say I support the troops on one hand, and then a two-month mission is a quagmire. [14:40] That's a false equivalence. [14:42] Who are you cheering for here? [14:43] Who are you pulling for? [14:44] Our troops are doing incredible work. [14:46] They've done incredible things for the entirety of this mission. [14:49] And achieved incredible battlefield successes. [14:52] And you sit there and go on TV for your clickbait about quagmires. [14:57] It undermines the mission. [14:59] Your hatred for President Trump blinds you to the truth of the success of this mission [15:05] and the historic stakes that the president is addressing, [15:08] which the American people support. [15:10] Iran's been at war with us for 47 years. [15:13] You want to talk about a forever war? [15:15] For two months, this president has stared them down. [15:17] He's going to get a better deal than anyone ever has and ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. [15:21] I know the American people support that mission, despite your loose talk and words like quagmire. [15:30] Thank you. [15:30] Thank you, Mr. Secretary. [15:31] General Cain. [15:32] Mr. Secretary, you mentioned the nuclear aspect of Iran and the war. [15:36] And it is worth noting that every president prior to this one, including President Trump in his first term, [15:42] also prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without actually having to go to war in Iran. [15:47] So we need to keep that in mind. [15:48] But also, since the war started, Iran's nuclear arsenal has not been weakened in any way. [15:55] And at the moment, in negotiations, what Iran is saying, basically pay us to open up the strait. [16:00] That's their position, which is completely untenable. [16:04] I agree. [16:04] It's worth noting, of course, that the strait was open before the war started. [16:08] Now we're negotiating to get back to status quo. [16:11] And Iran's most recent offer is to say, we'll talk about nukes later. [16:15] So what is the plan to actually turn all of this lethal kinetic action into an improvement in the nuclear situation? [16:22] Because we haven't gotten there yet. [16:25] Play it out for us. [16:26] How does that happen? [16:27] How does it actually lead to that result? [16:29] Well, I would take issue with the premise of the question that nothing was done. [16:33] Operation Midnight Hammer was a very effective— [16:36] Oh, I didn't say nothing was done. [16:37] I said in this war. [16:38] Ultimately, well, this is—under this administration, unlike other administrations, [16:43] which cut bad deals and pallets of cash with no ability to oversee whether Iran is actually pursuing a nuclear program. [16:49] Which is where we're at. [16:49] If we want to litigate JCPOA or the Iran deal, our view, the president's view, is that was a very bad deal. [16:55] Okay. [16:55] That gave them a bunch of money up front. [16:57] What's the future? [16:57] To fund—you talked about negotiated deals. [16:59] Funded—allowed them to fund their proxies and spread Hamas and Hezbollah all around the region, build up nuclear capabilities. [17:06] That's great. [17:06] What are we going to do now? [17:07] President Trump has been clear-eyed from the killing of Qasem Soleimani to the pulling out of the Iran deal to Midnight Hammer, [17:13] and now to this effort, to recognize that you have to stare down this kind of enemy who's hellbent on getting a nuclear weapon, and get them to a point where they're at the table giving it up in a way that— [17:24] So they haven't broken yet. [17:27] Okay. [17:28] We haven't gotten there yet. [17:29] For all of the— [17:30] Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated underground. [17:33] They're buried and we're watching them 24-7. [17:35] Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. [17:36] So we know where any nuclear material might be— [17:38] We're claiming my time for just a quick second here. [17:40] We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. [17:50] Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated? [17:52] They had not given up their nuclear ambitions, and they had a conventional shield of thousands of— [17:57] So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance. [18:01] It left us at exactly the same place we were before. [18:05] So much so that we had to start a war. [18:05] Their facilities were bombed and obliterated. [18:07] Their ambitions continued, and they're building a conventional shield of missiles— [18:12] All right, let me try again. [18:13] It's the North Korea strategy. [18:14] You know this very well. [18:15] The North Korea strategy was use conventional missiles to prevent anybody from challenging them [18:19] so they could slow walk their way to a weapon. [18:22] President Trump saw Iran at its weakest moment, took an action to ensure in a way that only the United States of America could do with our Israeli partners— [18:30] And yet they still haven't given up the nuclear— [18:33] All right, one other question, if I could get to it. [18:36] So on Ukraine, a year-plus ago, your advice, the president's advice, was Ukraine had no cards to play. [18:43] They should go cut the best possible deal they could. [18:47] Clearly that was wrong. [18:49] What did you miss? [18:50] What did you miss about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that you didn't see that Ukraine was going to be capable of doing what they've done in the last 14 months? [18:58] What we didn't miss, and we're here in this committee, is that Joe Biden, with no accountability, gave hundreds of billions of dollars of our weapons to Ukraine [19:05] to an outcome that never would have happened if President Trump was the president. [19:08] So you're not going to answer the question. [19:09] So he pulled out our—you guys don't talk about that. [19:12] Ultimately, President Trump believes there should be a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. [19:16] But you didn't expect Ukraine to be where they're at right now. [19:19] I'm asking you, just from a strategic standpoint, what did you miss? [19:21] I think the Ukrainians have shown great courage, and I appreciate that Europe is now paying for any weapons that we provide. [19:27] Quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. [19:32] I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. [19:35] My office's phones have been ringing off the hook. [19:38] I've heard from so many military families concerned about the president's mental fitness [19:42] and whether he's fit to serve as our commander-in-chief, given that he's sending their loved ones into harm's way. [19:48] Our troops, who have shown incredible bravery and tactical proficiency, deserve to know that their leaders are focused and stable. [19:55] So, Mr. Secretary, you are with the president a lot, and it pains me to even have to ask this about our president, [20:03] but my constituents' lives are at stake. [20:06] Do you believe that the president is mentally stable enough to be the commander-in-chief? [20:12] Did you ask the same question of Joe Biden for four years? [20:15] Mr. Secretary, Joe Biden is not the president. [20:17] Mr. Trump has been president for a year and a half, and I'm asking you right now— [20:21] And I won't even engage with the level of disparagement that you're putting on the commander-in-chief, [20:25] who, indeed, is—I mean, every—I mean, meeting him every single day— [20:30] Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, Biden is not the president. [20:32] He's the sharpest, most insightful commander-in-chief we've had in generations. [20:35] And you want to compare—I mean, you want to ask that question after you and your fellow Democrats defended Joe Biden, [20:40] who could barely speak and didn't know what day of the week it was? [20:41] Mr. Secretary, as you know, as you know— [20:43] He governed through an auto pen. [20:44] He had a secretary of defense who went AWOL for a week. [20:47] I can't be gone for 10 minutes without— [20:50] I will reclaim my time. [20:51] Thank you so much. [20:51] Mr. In a lady's time, she's reclaimed it. [20:53] So, as Mr. Jimenez said, we should be taking leaders at their word. [20:57] So, is there a reason that we should not be taking our leader at his word? [21:01] Iran should not underestimate the will of President Trump and the United States military to achieve our mission. [21:08] Okay. [21:09] Well, I want you to know this is not a partisan thing. [21:11] In fact, many, many Democrats have had— [21:14] many, many Republicans have had these same questions. [21:16] Marjorie Taylor Greene said he's out of control and he's gone insane. [21:21] Candace Owens said the 25th Amendment needs to be invoked. [21:24] Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, who you used to work with, Alex Jones, Stephanie Grisham, the list could go on. [21:30] So, how do I explain to my constituents that while they are in harm's way, [21:34] their commander-in-chief is posting these unhinged posts? [21:38] How did you explain to your constituents what happened on October 6th or what happened in Afghanistan [21:44] or what happened with the debacle and the withdrawal in Afghanistan, where the troops were left? [21:48] How did you explain that with Joe Biden's leadership? [21:50] Mr. Secretary, I'm not asking you about the previous administration. [21:51] How did you explain that to the Marines that didn't get medals, that we restored their medals [21:54] because of that disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan? [21:56] Mr. Secretary, I'm asking about what's happening right now. [21:57] Did you explain that to your constituents when Joe Biden was asleep at the wheel [22:00] and he had an AWOL secretary of defense? [22:01] Okay, Mr. Secretary, how about this next post? [22:04] How can I explain this next post to my constituents? [22:07] I'm Jewish, so this doesn't really bother me, but my understanding is that this is quite offensive [22:17] to many Christians. [22:18] So, how do you explain this post? [22:20] I'm not here to explain posts. [22:22] We have an incredible commander-in-chief who puts our troops first. [22:25] I'm here for a budget hearing about our troops. [22:27] This is about our troops. [22:28] It's a historic budget that's giving us a chance to defeat our adversaries, [22:32] and President Trump is doing that in world-class fashion. [22:35] This is about our troops. [22:36] The general lady has reclaimed her time, Mr. Secretary. [22:38] This is about our troops. [22:39] This is about who is commanding our troops and if our troops can trust [22:43] that they are being sent into harm's way under good strategy. [22:46] The mental stability of our commander-in-chief is deeply important to our troops. [22:51] It's deeply important to this country. [22:53] It is our troops' lives at stake. [22:53] It wasn't important to you during Joe Biden. [22:55] I'll remind you that when there were concerns, Democrats came together, [22:59] and he was not our nominee for president. [23:01] So, I encourage you to have the same courage that Democrats had. [23:05] Mr. Secretary, you keep saying that he is the best commander-in-chief [23:09] if we've ever had the best negotiator. [23:11] After the troops. [23:12] Thirteen American troops have died. [23:14] More than 380 have been wounded. [23:16] The Strait of Hormuz, which was wide open, is now closed. [23:20] Less than 90 percent of traffic through the Strait is still not going, despite the ceasefire. [23:25] The Iranian regime is still in power. [23:27] It still has nuclear material. [23:28] The war is costing Americans billions of dollars. [23:32] And, Mr. Secretary, if you think that this is what winning looks like, [23:36] then maybe we should be questioning your mental stability. [23:39] Maybe you are the one responsible for this failure, [23:41] and the president should think about replacing you. [23:43] Mr. Chairman, I yield back. [23:45] What does the $1.5 trillion budget mean for the warfighter [23:48] and our ability to project forces and secure our interest around the globe? [23:52] Chairman, you know, in my view, this represents a historic down payment on future security. [24:02] If the budget is approved and ultimately deployed, [24:06] as we look at the character of warfare changing very, very fast, [24:11] what's layered into this budget by our civilian leaders [24:14] will allow us to start getting ahead of where technology is evolving. [24:20] And, as I mentioned, the character of warfighting is changing pretty quickly. [24:25] Mass, simultaneity, autonomy, undersea, space, cyber, information, [24:32] all of those ways that are now manifesting themselves on the battlefields around the world [24:38] require a higher end of capital investment, [24:43] and that's why we're grateful for the opportunity to have this budget make its way to the joint force. [24:49] So it's an important down payment on the future here, sir. [24:52] Thank you.