Thursday, June 19, 2025. An assaulter in chief leads to assaults being dismissed instead of prosecuted. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth crashes and burns before another Senate committee.
We're going to start with Senator Patty Murray. I wasn't at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing yesterday. But I watched the video below and read the senator's statement before going to sleep last night. In my dreams, I kept returning to one thing and it's how Chump has degraded our country with his appointees and his executive order that have turned this government into an attack on those who are assaulted.
Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing
to consider pending labor and civil rights nominations, U.S. Senator
Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the HELP
Committee, grilled Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Acting
Chair and Commissioner nominee Andrea Lucas on dismissal of
discrimination cases involving people who are nonbinary and the
importance of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Senator Murray
also spoke out against Trump’s illegal firing of EEOC Commissioners
Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, which she forcefully condemned in January and led a letter in March demanding their immediate reinstatement.
[FIRING OF COMMISSIONERS SAMUELS AND BURROWS]
Senator Murray began by addressing President Trump’s unprecedented
move earlier this year to fire two Democratic Commissioners on the EEOC:
“On January 27, President Trump made the unprecedented and
illegal move to fire two EEOC Commissioners—Jocelyn Samuels and
Charlotte Burrows—without cause. In the EEOC’s 60-year history, the
President has never fired a commissioner before their term expired.
Commissioner Lucas, in 2021 you actually criticized President Biden’s
move to fire the former General Counsel, calling the EEOC a ‘independent
agency.’ Now that President Trump is in charge, all of the talk about
the EEOC’s ‘independence’ has disappeared. These
illegal firings are yet another example of the very long list of ways
President Trump is weaponizing and making independent agencies
political—in this case, the one Americans actually rely on for justice
when they face discrimination at work.”
“I led a letter to President Trump pressing him to reinstate
Commissioners Samuels and Burrows, and I urge my colleagues to join me
in opposing any nominations to the EEOC until President Trump does
that,” SenatorMurray said.
[DISMISSAL OF DISCRIMINATION CASES]
Senator Murray moved onto her questioning, focusing on the EEOC’s recent move to dismiss nearly every lawsuit it had filed over the past year alleging discrimination against transgender and nonbinary workers following President Trump’s Executive Order on “Gender Ideology” that recognizing only two “immutable” sexes: “Under
President Trump, the EEOC has moved to dismiss cases they had
previously agreed on—by a majority vote—to litigate. For example, the
Commission recently dismissed a case, Lush Cosmetics, where the
EEOC itself had alleged that a manager: groped an employee, asked an
employee for sex, commented on employees’ breasts, tried to engage
employees in sexual discussions, and used sexual profanities.
Commissioner Lucas, was it your decision to dismiss that case?”
Commissioner Lucas first acknowledged that she had conveniently changed her position on the independence of the EEOC: “Thank
you for the question, Senator, and for the opportunity to acknowledge
my prior tweet and to note that I was wrong at that time…the agency is
an executive branch agency. At the time that I indicated that, I was not
aware of the long record that the agency had taken that position, and
therefore it’s important for as an executive agency us to follow the
President when he directs us in an Executive Order to defend women’s
rights and to refer to individuals solely by their biological pronouns—”
Senator Murray redirected Commissioner Lucas to answer her question, saying: “Can you answer the question on dismissing the case? You were Acting Chair of the Commission when Lush Cosmetics, was it your decision to drop the case?”
“It was my decision in consultation with our career staff,
unanimous decision of the career staff, that it was impossible to both
comply with the President’s Executive Order as an executive branch
agency and also zealously defend the workers who we had brought the case
on behalf. We could not balance both of those interests and therefore
we gave them an opportunity to intervene, and the case proceeds forward
with those workers taking a position on their own,” Commissioner Lucas replied.
“I just want to be clear—what you’re saying is that when an
employee is groped, propositioned for sex, and called abject slurs at
work, the EEOC will do absolutely nothing to enforce
anti-discrimination laws if that employee happens to be nonbinary, or
otherwise doesn’t conform to this administration’s ideas about gender,” Senator Murray responded. “Is that correct?”
Commissioner Lucas replied, “Respectfully, I disagree with that conclusion.”
“I don’t know what conclusion we come to other than that with that decision,” Senator Murray pushed back.
“It shouldn’t matter what someone’s gender identity is. If
they are harassed at work, they should be able to get the justice they
are entitled to under the law,” Senator Murray concluded.
___________________________________
Throughout her career, Senator Murray has championed workers’ rights
and fought to combat employment discrimination, including as the top
Democrat on the Senate labor committee from 2015-2022—among other
things, Senator Murray fought backagainst a
proposed DOL rule by the Trump administration that would allow federal
contractors and subcontractors to justify discrimination against women,
LGBTQ+ people, and members of certain religious groups on ideological
grounds. Senator Murray first introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act—comprehensive
labor legislation to protect workers’ right to stand together and
bargain for fairer wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces—in the
116th Congress, and also leads the Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (BE HEARD) in the Workplace Act,
comprehensive legislation to prevent workplace harassment, strengthen
and expand key protections for workers, and support workers in seeking
accountability and justice.
###
There are important issues in the senator's press release and in the exchange in the video. We're just focusing on the middle one.
For those who have forgotten, Donald Chump has multiple credible claims of assault against him. Multiple. For those who have forgotten, he selected the highly unqualified Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has allegations of spousal abuse against him -- ex-wife can't talk or risks legal fall out -- and he apparently assaulted a woman who he then settled with and made her sign an NDA and refused to release from that NDA so that she could testify to the Senate during his confirmation hearing.
If it walks like a duck . . .
And what we're seeing in Chump Land now is a government that works to excuse away abuse while punishing the abused.
Last week, Hegseth was at one hearing after another. He kept making statements -- his opening statements -- that included what sounded like threats. Here he is last Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee:
I have directed each of the military departments to conduct a review of their Military Equal
Opportunity and Equal Employment Opportunity programs and processes. Our personnel
deserve fair treatment and a positive work environment that is free from unlawful discrimination
and harassment. They also deserve qualified leaders who are empowered to make tough
decisions, enforce standards, and restore good order and discipline through balanced
accountability.
We are going to streamline investigation processes, address problematic behaviors, and mitigate
undue mission impacts. Complaints that are unsubstantiated by actionable, credible evidence
will be dismissed in a timely manner. Flimsy allegations will not be used adversely against the
accused. Personnel who knowingly submit false complaints will be disciplined.
This is critical to advancing meritocracy and balancing accountability. It is also the right thing to
do for the DoD and our workforce. We will continue to hold leaders at all levels accountable for
their actions, but the Department will no longer foster a culture of "walking on eggshells."
Hegseth, like Chump, apparently assaulted women. And now both men have been put in charge despite that fact. And read his remarks above. His anger is directed at those coming forward, not t those who have been put in positions of power. He wants to talk assaults and the assault that matters to him is the 'poor' person being accused of assault. He rips into these victims coming forward. They're liars! And they will be punished to the full extent!
Most coming forward are not liars.
And yet Hegseth has nothing to say about them. Even though it is them that the government owes an apology too. Even though it is them that qualify as the betrayed.
Hegseth had nothing to say about that despite the huge numbers of service members who have been assaulted by someone in command. Hill & Ponton is a firm specializing in veterans disability. They note:
Facts on Military Sexual Assault
High demand for VA health care. 1,307,781 outpatient visits took place at the VA for MST-related care in 2015.
The likelihood that a person’s mental health suffers and experience
suicidal or depressive thoughts increases after sexual violence.
Posttraumatic stress disorder can be common along with other mental
health conditions.
People who have been sexually assaulted are more at risk for substance use and substance abuse than the general public.[4]
Sexual violence and the following psychological trauma also affects
victims’ relationships with their family members, friends, and
co-workers.
Victims are at risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Statistics on Military Sexual Assault[5]
Sexual violence remains pervasive. In 2018, 20,500 service members
were sexually assaulted or raped including 13,000 women and 7,500 men.
The rate of sexual assault and rape jumped by almost 40% from 2016 to
2018, and for women veterans, the rate increased by over 50% to the highest level since 2006.
Of women who reported a penetrative sexual assault, 59% were
assaulted by someone with a higher rank than them, and 24% were
assaulted by someone in their chain of command.
Vast majority of cases go unreported. 76.1% of victims did not report the crime in 2018.
Retaliation is the norm. 64% of women who reported a sexual assault
face retaliation. 66% of retaliation reports alleged that retaliators
were in the reporter’s chain of command. A third of victims are
discharged after reporting, typically within 7 months of making a
report. Victims received harsher discharges, with 24% separate under
less than fully honorable conditions, compared to 15% of all service
members.
Low trust and satisfaction in the system. Over 1 in 4 victims who
did not report feared retaliation from their command or coworkers.
Nearly 1 in 3 victims who did not report feared the process would be
unfair or nothing would be done. Less than half of the female veteran
survivors felt well supported by their chain of command.
Convictions have plummeted by almost 60% in unrestricted sexual
assaults reported since 2015. In 2018, of the 5,805 unrestricted
reports of sexual assault, 307 cases were tried by court-martial, and
108 offenders were convicted of a nonconsensual sex offense.
40% of homeless women veterans have faced MST. Veterans with an MST
history are over twice as likely to experience homelessness.[6]
9 out of every 10 victims of rape are female veterans.[7]
More Facts on Military Sexual Assault
High demand for VA health care. 1,307,781 outpatient visits took place at the VA for MST-related care in 2015.
The likelihood that a person’s mental health suffers and experience
suicidal or depressive thoughts increases after sexual violence.
Post traumatic stress disorder can be common along with other
mental health conditions.
People who have been sexually assaulted are more at risk for substance use and substance abuse than the general public.[4]
Sexual violence and the following psychological trauma also affects
victims’ relationships with their family members, friends, and
co-workers.
Victims are at risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
More Statistics on Military Sexual Assault[5]
Sexual violence remains pervasive. In 2018, 20,500 service members
were sexually assaulted or raped including 13,000 women and 7,500 men.
The rate of sexual assault and rape jumped by almost 40% from 2016 to
2018, and for women veterans, the rate increased by over 50% to the highest level since 2006.
Of women who reported a penetrative sexual assault, 59% were
assaulted by someone with a higher rank than them, and 24% were
assaulted by someone in their chain of command.
Vast majority of cases go unreported. 76.1% of victims did not report the crime in 2018.
Retaliation is the norm. 64% of women who reported a sexual assault
face retaliation. 66% of retaliation reports alleged that retaliators
were in the reporter’s chain of command. A third of victims are
discharged after reporting, typically within 7 months of making a
report. Victims received harsher discharges, with 24% separate under
less than fully honorable conditions, compared to 15% of all service
members.
Low trust and satisfaction in the system. Over 1 in 4 victims who
did not report feared retaliation from their command or coworkers.
Nearly 1 in 3 victims who did not report feared the process would be
unfair or nothing would be done. Less than half of the female veteran
survivors felt well supported by their chain of command.
Convictions have plummeted by almost 60% in unrestricted sexual
assaults reported since 2015. In 2018, of the 5,805 unrestricted
reports of sexual assault, 307 cases were tried by court-martial, and
108 offenders were convicted of a nonconsensual sex
40% of homeless women veterans have faced MST. Veterans with an MST
history are over twice as likely to experience homelessness.[6]
9 out of every 10 victims of rape are female veterans.[7]
Reading the above statistics, go back and read Hegseth's nonsense:
I have directed each of the military departments to conduct a review of their Military Equal Opportunity and Equal Employment Opportunity programs and processes. Our personnel deserve fair treatment and a positive work environment that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. They also deserve qualified leaders who are empowered to make tough decisions, enforce standards, and restore good order and discipline through balanced accountability. We are going to streamline investigation processes, address problematic behaviors, and mitigate undue mission impacts. Complaints that are unsubstantiated by actionable, credible evidence will be dismissed in a timely manner. Flimsy allegations will not be used adversely against the accused. Personnel who knowingly submit false complaints will be disciplined. This is critical to advancing meritocracy and balancing accountability. It is also the right thing to do for the DoD and our workforce. We will continue to hold leaders at all levels accountable for their actions, but the Department will no longer foster a culture of "walking on eggshells."
He is not concerned about the survivors of assault.
He makes no mention of what a betrayal assault is. He calls out only people coming forward. Again, the vast number of people coming forward are telling the truth. But the survivors do not matter one bit to Hegseth as evidenced by his own remarks and what he choose to emphasize.
That's why, Senator Joni Ernst -- you stupid idiot -- you don't vote to confirm someone like him.
When you do, the system of justice is inverted, turned upside down and it becomes about assaulters protecting other assaulters.
I was at yesterday's Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing and we're going to cover that. Pete Hegseth and his DoD cronies, as you will see,
were feeling a little wee-wee.
Senator
Tammy Duckworth: In response to my colleague from Oklahoma, I believe
the Secretary of Defense has just responded last week and admitted that
the $1 billion mission that he led against the Houthis who do not have a
navy has not restored the transit of US flag commercial vessels through
the Red Sea and in fact has resulted in the loss of two F18 Hornets to
the tune of 60 million dollars a piece as well as, I believe, the last
count was seven Reaper drones to the tune of another 200 million
dollars. You [Pete Hegseth] are blowing through money like my fellow
cadets and I did in our first liberty after basic camp. Luckily, I
didn't end up with a questionable tattoo. Your facilities, Mr
Secretary, since you've taken office has been staggering. You sent
classified operational information over Signal to chest thump in front
of your wife -- who, by the way, has no security clearance -- risking
service members' lives in the process. You blew the one million dollar
fight against the Houthis whom, again as my colleague says, have no navy
and yet you lost all of those aircraft. You've created such a hostile
command environment that no one wants to serve as your Chief of Staff or
work with you and other senior DoD leadership roles. But what you
should all be talking about more than all of this is that you have an
unjustified, unAmerican use of the military and American cities pulling
resources and attention away from core missions to the detriment of the
country, the war fighters and, yes, the war fighting that you claim to
love. I don't know if this is because you are too inexperienced and
incompetent to understand the real threats facing our country of if its
because you are just an unqualified yes-man who can't tell the president
how to keep Americans are safe. You are focusing on renaming bases for
Confederate generals. You said just now to Senator King that to a man
and to a woman we would rather be associated with the old Confederate
names. Well I am one of those women. I served at Fort Rucker, Alabama
-- a base that was named for a traitor who took up arms against the
United States of America, led troops who killed Americans. It was
renamed for Mike Novosel -- a Medal of Honor recipient who,
in his citation for the Medal of Honor, includes that he saved 29
American lives, including hovering backwards in a helicopter towards an
enemy bank bunker where a wounded American was laying and saved that --
and saved that person -- including after taking fire himself. I know a
little something about what it takes to fly a helicopter when you've
been hit by enemy fire. That was heroic. I'd rather be associated with
Mike Novosel than a Confederate traitor. I don't know
whether you inexperienced or too incompetent but I wonder when you will
actually focus on our nation's war fighting mission? We know that
California is just a deliberate, systematic, political and dangerous
campaign led by you. We should not be using our mayor :::: military to
play cops against Americans. General [J Daniel] Caine, a key part of
your job is to coordinate military planning across the joint-force. Is
the department currently incorporating into any military plans expanding
the use of reserve forces to include the National Guard or active duty
troops to support domestic law enforcement -- including in other
locations in the United States?
General J Daniel Caine: Uh, Senator, you know we-we -- uh, carefully
Senator Tammy Duckworth: Yes or no, General.
General J Daniel Caine: Well
. . . it's-it's not really a yes-or-a-no question, Madam Senator.
We-we plan all kinds of different things. I'm not aware of any -- I'm
not aware of anything. But the reason why I'm answering is the tags may
be looking at something that I'm not aware of.
Senator
Tammy Duckworth: What are you doing at your level? You're not aware
of that happening at your level? Because we know that on his first
day, President Trump directed US Northern Command to revise its unified
command plan to add new planning requirements to combat and, I quote,
"criminal activities." A series of follow-up executive orders continue
to redirect DoD priorities to supporting domestic law enforcement
including one in April that tells DoD, and I quote, "it's for law and
order." In other words, do law enforcement's job. I'd like to enter
these executive orders into the record, Mr Chairman.
Chair Roger F Wicker: Is there objection? Without objection.
Senator
Tammy Duckworth: Secretary Hegseth, you say you are force focused -- on
war fighting and warriors. Those are your words. Yet you are diverting
untold DoD resources and attention to fundamentally non-military
mission of domestic policing across the country. We have qualified
police officers who are trained for that mission. They know those
streets better than the Marines you deployed to Los Angeles who normally
focus on the Indo Pacific. And you recently approved 700 more troops
in three other states to do admin and logistic works for ICE. You say
all of this is valuable training but I would much rather our troops do
tough, realistic training relevant to high-end combat. Instead of
typing in spread sheets for ICE, they should be conducting live fire
maneuver exercises, instead of patrolling American neighborhoods and
standing in front of federal buildings, they should be rehearsing
call-for-fire missions. We have local police who can stand in front of
those federal buildings. And the list of distractions goes on. You are
encouraging the DoD workforce to go work for DHS in increasing numbers.
You are pulling the military away from facing foreign enemies who
literally say things like "Death to America!" and you're putting troops
with weapons aimed at Americans Mr Secretary, let the military get back
to its real job. Stop forcing them to do DHS'. And if you want to be
DHS secretary, maybe you can apply for that job when you're fired from
this one due to your staggering incompetence.
There
is so much worth reviewing in the above. For example, the senator is
correct, 100%, that using the military on American streets is a misuse
that weakens the military forces. And we'll come back to that topic.
But Tammy just laid it out throughout her remarks and I think we need
to all be clear on reality and make this the end of 'participation'
trophies.
We do not have, in the US, a Fort Kim Il-Sung.
We don't have that.
Why?
He
was the leader of North Korea when the US was in the Korean War. Kim
II-Sung was not an American soldier or general or commander-in-chief.
He was an enemy of the American people
By
the same token, I don't care if you're huffing the rags of great
grandpappy's Confederate Army uniform, great grandpappy was a traitor to
the United States who took up arms against the country. You've had
your time to heal. Now it's time to get real. There was never a need
to glorify the Confederacy.
They were traitors. Pete Hegseth identifies with them because he glorifies the traitors of the January 6th insurrection.
It's
2025, we're not pretending for the sake of hurt feelings Everyone who
fought in the Civil War is long dead. Those of us in the country today
need to stop walking on egg shells. That is not me being an idiot like
Patricia Arquette who once took to Twitter to slam people who have
ancestors that were in the Confederacy. I'm not blaming you for what
some distant uncle Jed did two centuries back. That has nothing to do
with you. I'm not blaming you for it. But I am saying that it's time
for you to grasp that the propaganda ends now. F**k GONE WITH THE WIND,
f**k all the propaganda. They were traitors. They took up arms
against the United States. Traitors.
Just like the insurrectionists of January 6th.
The
classic definition of a traitor, Senator Angus King had noted earlier
and asked Hegseth, "Why are you going through these incredible
gymnastics, finding current soldiers or other soldiers to rename? And
you slipped a minute ago. You said 'We're returning these bases to
their original names." He did slip.
Hegseth
slipped and Angus caught it. King stated, "I don't understand what the
motivation is to rename bases for people who took up arms against their
country on behalf of slavery."
Hegseth spewed a lot of nonsense but it was a hard sell to the Committee.
Senator
Tim Kaine: Earlier this month, you announced a plan to change the
names of three Virginia military bases to restore the names of
Confederate era generals on those bases. You researched to find brave
American soldiers with the same last names -- Lee, Hill and Pickett --
who had not fought for the Confederacy and declared that those
Confederate adjacent names would be restored. The problem is that you
had to strip away the names of four amazing people that the Pentagon and
local communities had chosen to honor at the Virginia bases. Van
Barfoot, he was a Mississippi native, Mr. Chair, who came to Fort
Pickett in the early forties to train for war. He fought all over Europe
in WWII. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery
leading his platoon in southern Italy. He killed ten of the enemy,
captured seventeen more and escorted two wounded Americans 1700 yards to
safety under enemy fire. Stayed in the army for another 34 years
seeing action in both the Korean and the Vietnam Wars and being assigned
as the Army liaison to the Virginia National Guard at Fort Pickett.
Long after he retired, he maintained his tie to the Fort and to the
Virginia National Guard. I was at the naming ceremony where this base
to which he had devoted so much of his life was named in his honor. His
family was there and they were so proud. Arthur Gregg served in the
Army for more than 30 years. He was the first African-American to reach
the rank of Brigadier General, first to reach the rank of Lt General.
Began as an enlisted, eventually decided to become a commissioned
officer. Went to Fort Lee for quartermaster training. Quickly rose
through the ranks as an instructor even though he was not allowed to go
to the officers club because of the color of his skin. He finished his
career in 1979 as the Director of All Army Logistics Operations around
the world. He stayed near Fort Leon retirement, raised his family there
and was a continuous, beloved presence until his death last summer at
96. He was actually at the renaming ceremony with his family in 2022 --
at this place that meant so much to him. Charity Adams? Charity Adams
was an Army officer during WWII. The first African-American woman
allowed to join the WACS [Women's Army Corps]. She was the commanding
officer of the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion -- a unique
battalion composed primarily of African-American women making sure that
American GIs in Europe got their mail during World War II. Our
colleagues, [Senator] Jacky Rosen and [Senator] Jerry Moran successfully
passed a bill in 2002 giving the 6888 the Congressional Gold Medal.
Charity Adams was the highest ranking African-American woman in the
military at the end of WWII. Her family was at the dedication of Fort
Gregg Adams, named in honor of these two trail blazing logistic
leaders. They were so proud. Finally, Mary Walker, the only woman ever
to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. She graduated from
Syracuse Medical School in 1855. She tried to join the Union Army as a
surgeon, was turned away because she was a woman. But the need was so
great, she eventually got hired in a military hospital in Washington and
then was deployed as an Army surgeon with the Army of the Cumberland
and the 52nd Ohio Infantry becoming the first female surgeon in the US
Army. She served all over Virginia including the place where the base
is now named after her. She frequently crossed the battle lines to
treat civilians and even treated Confederate soldiers. She was captured a
prisoner of war in Richmond until a prisoner release. President Andrew
Johnson gave her the Congressional Medal of Honor after the Civil War.
Why did you decide that these four patriots were not worthy enough to
have their names on a base.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Well, Senator, as you know this was never about the names of the bases. They were renamed to.
Senator Tim Kaine: So you don't challenge the bases --
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Restoring all bases to their original names were not about erasing.
Senator
Tim Kaine: Okay, you don't care about their military record, you
wanted to restore the Confederate names. When you called the Gregg
family to tell them that their dad's name was no longer going to be on
the base, what was their reaction?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Uhm, Senator, the army notified them of that.
Senator
Tim Kaine: You didn't call any of the families and I've spoken with the
families and the families were called by the press. That's how they
learned about this. They learned about it from the press, you didn't
call the Barfoot family, the Gregg family and you didn't call the Adams
family. I told the families that I'd ask you about this today. In fact,
two of General Gregg's granddaughters, Avery and Sydney, are right here
in the audience. And I want to ask you this as I close. While you
announced that these brave men and women's names would be stripped from
the Virginia bases, no orders to that effect have been received by the
base commanders. In light of the patriotic service of Van Barfoot,
Arthur Gregg, Charity Adams and Mary Walker, I'd like to ask you simply
not to issue the orders changing the names of these Virginia bases.
These families, my Commonwealth, are very proud of these heroes, very
satisfied with these names, and ask you not to change them. Will you
honor these exemplary patriots and keep their worthy names in places on
the bases they loved and where they served?
Secretary
Pete Hegseth: Senator, we very much thank and appreciate them for
their service and we'll find ways to recognize them but the orders will
soon be going to those bases to change the names back to the original
name that never should have been changed.
They never should have been changed. What a damn fool. What a damn racist.
And Hegseth isn't just pro-racist, he's someone who hates Jewish people.
Senator
Jacky Rosen: Secretary Hegseth, would you agree that every senior
official in the Department of Defense must reflect the values and
conduct that our servicemembers must uphold and our citizens expect?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Senator, we want to uphold the highest possible standards.
Senator
Jacky Rosen: I’ll take that for a yes. Would you also agree that
antisemitism and antisemitic conspiracy theories have no place in our
government or military?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: They should not.
Senator
Jacky Rosen: Would you agree that anyone who has posted “antisemitic
conspiracy theories lifted right out of the neo-Nazi playbook,”
shouldn’t be anywhere near a position of power? Yes or no, please.
Secretary
Pete Hegseth: Since I don’t believe the characterization of many
officials in the news media, I would need to see precisely what’s being
characterized.
Senator Jacky Rosen: But generally…
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Generally speaking, sure.
Senator
Jacky Rosen: Would you not say that if you thought something was coming
out of a neo-nazi playbook it doesn’t have any place in our Department
of Defense? Now, Secretary Hegseth, the quote I just read you was
referencing Ms. Kingsley Wilson, the DOD press secretary, who my
Republican colleagues on this committee have also expressed alarm over
due to her public comments. In fact, one colleague said, “Obviously, I
don’t agree with her comments. I trust the Pentagon will address this."
However, in the months since, not only have you not addressed these
comments, you have promoted Ms. Wilson. This seems to be at odds with
President Trump’s commitment to combat antisemitism, which you just said
you agreed with. So, Secretary Hegseth, given the rise in antisemitic
violence and hate crimes in our nation, and to show that the Trump
Administration does have a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism, will
you dismiss Ms. Kingsley from her role as the U.S. military’s
spokesperson today? Yes or no.
Secretary Pete
Hegseth: Again, that’s why I referenced the context and
characterization. I’ve worked directly with her; she does a fantastic
job, and any suggestion that I, or her, or others are party to
antisemitism is a mischaracterization attempting to win political
points.
Senator Jacky Rosen: I’m going to
assume that your lack of an answer confirms what we’ve known all along,
that the Trump Administration is not serious. You are not a serious
person. You are not serious about rooting out antisemitism in the ranks
of our DOD. It’s despicable. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
He
should be ashamed of himself, he's doing a lousy job in a position he
was never qualified for. The topic of this hearing -- as was the case
in three Congressional hearings last week -- was the DoD budget that was
due back in February but which Hegseth still can't pull together. He
can't even do the basics of his damn job.
Senator Angus King: Let me talk about the budget. I don't understand why the
budget is coming to us in two pieces. Why not give us an honest base
budget instead of putting a piece of it in reconciliation? As I
understand it, OMB (the Office of Management and Budget) is saying we
are going to have a flat defense budget for the next four or five years.
Are we playing reconciliation every year from now on? Why not give us
an honest budget telling us what your priorities are, and we can
consider it. This committee always works on a bipartisan basis on the
defense budget. We all want to see some increases in the defense budget,
yet you are giving us this fake [version] — here is a piece of
the project, here is another. In the base budget you are cutting ship
building in half and saying, well we’re going to make it up in
reconciliation. Are we going to have reconciliation every year? Which
basically puts a significant part, 10% or 15% of the defense budget in a
wholly partisan decision-making process, whereas in the history of this
committee it has always been bipartisan. Why are we doing it this way?
Hegseth could not supply an honest answer. Honesty is even more difficult for Hegseth than answering yes-or-no questions.
Republican
Roger Wicker is the Chair of the Committee and even he expressed his
disappointment over Hegseth's inability, all these months later, to
submit a budget plan that's over four months late. This point was
raised repeatedly because Hegsteh is derelict in his duty.
Senator Richard Blumenthal: I want to move onto another area of questioning. The Chairman has said
that you have submitted precious little detail. to quote him, "precious
little detail about the budget." I think there is no detail. This budget
is literally a rough outline, with shortsighted shortfalls. For example,
the shortfall on the Columbia-class, two billion dollars. Only about
one billion dollars for Virginia-class. There is virtually no outline or
specificity as to how you are going to provide drones to defend and
also engage in offensive outline and maneuvers.
He's not doing his job. He's doing everything but his job and then he lies when he's caught.
The
families whose names were being stripped from the forts? He lies to
Senator Tim Kaine that "the army notified them of that." But, no, that
was just a lie. No notification took place. He's a cheap, filthy liar
who can't pull together a budget, who can't stop attacking former
President Joe Biden. The drunk was wearing his little boy dress shirt
and had on even more foundation (make up) then he did in all three of
the hearings he appeared at last week. He has plenty of time for things
like that but he just can't manage time when it comes to doing his damn
job -- a job that was always going to be over his head.
Senator Elissa Slotkin: Mr
Secretary, I said in your hearing -- when you had your confirmation
hearing -- that my biggest concern was -- with you at the helm -- was
the potential use of the military in ways that contradict the
Constitution or that taint what I hope we all want which is an
apolitical military. And when I asked you about an order that was
actually given to your predecessor, Secretary [Mark] Esper to deploy
active-duty troops on the protesters. You said this was all
theoretical. Here we are a few months later, you've deployed 4700
troops to Los Angeles against the wishes of the governor and my
colleague across the aisle is right: It is the first time since 1965
that we have deployed guard troops without the permission of the
governor. In all the incidents that he laid out, the president had sent
in the military to protect the protesters, not against the protesters You may dismiss it. But I feel like this is a fundamental issue of American democracy. If you love your country and you want an apolitical military, then it should be the last resort, not the first resort in our country to use them. So to get to the nontheoritical, have you authorized the uniform military to detain or arrest protesters in Los Angeles?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Senator, I would just start by saying --
Senator Elissa Slotkin: Just answer the question
[cross talk]
Senator Elissa Slotkin: What you're doing is something different. Everyone knows this is a political decision. Right? So we don't trust that you're using the best interests of the military certainly and of democracy on top of that. So have you given the order? That's all I want to know. It's not theoretical. For the US military -- not law enforcement, they can arrest all day long, that's their job -- do they have the ability, the uniformed military to arrest and detain protesters currently today.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Um-um -- I-I
Senator Elissa Slotkin: It's a yes or not thing --
Secretary Pete Hegseth: It's amusing --
Senator Elissa Slotkin: It's not --
Secretary Pete Hegseth: These troops are given very clear orders --
Senator Elissa Slotkin:Then what is the order? List it out for us. Be a man, list it out. Did you authorize them to detain or arrest? That is a fundamental issue of democracy I'm not trying to be a snot. Did you authorize them to do that?
All of these orders and what they are sent there to do are public --
Senator Elissa Slotkin: So say it. Say it. Yes or no.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: I'd like to.
Senator Elissa Slotkin: So say it. Yes or no.
Hegseth babbles away and, of course, does not say yes or no but does bring in former President Joe Biden to attack Joe's character and leadership. They have nothing else to offer but, all these months later, still blaming the previous president.
Senator Elissa Slotkin: Have you given the order to
be able to shoot at unarmed protesters, in any way? I’m just asking the
question. Don’t laugh. Like the whole country.... And by the way, my
colleagues across the aisle—
Secretary Pete Hegseth: What is that based on? What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given?
Senator Elissa Slotkin: It
is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor, to a
Republican secretary of defense, who I give a lot of credit to because
he didn’t accept the order. He had more guts and balls than you because
he said, I’m not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn’t right.
He was asked to shoot at their legs. He wrote that in his book. That’s
not hearsay. So your pooh-poohing of this—it just shows you don’t
understand who we are as a country, who we are. And all of my colleagues
across the aisle, especially the ones that served, should want an
apolitical military and not want citizens to be scared of their own
military. I love the military. I served alongside my whole life. So I’m
worried about you tainting it. Have you given the order? Have you given
the order that they can use lethal force against [unarmed protesters]? I
want the answer to be no. Please tell me it’s no. Have you given the
order?
Hegseth: Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books, and believing it, except for THE BIBLE.
We're stopping there. Hegseth is not a Christian. The thrice married drunk has crashed veteran organizations while padding his own pocket. There is nothing Christian about him. But called out in a hearing, he tries to hide behind THE BIBLE.
THE BIBLE is not what his position requires his knowledge of. To be Secretary of Defense, one of your 'bibles' has to be THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE (UCMN) and Hegseth has demonstrated nothing in action or word to indicate he's even remotely familiar with it.
