Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had one of his great moments when, during a Senate hearing, he laughed in the face of Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) as she tried questioning him over alleged anti-semitism inside the Pentagon, with Hegseth informing her that her time was up and smirking, much to her frustration.
For reference, the incident occurred during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. At issue were comments made by a Defense Department press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, that Sen. Rosen alleged were anti-semitic. SecDef Hegseth refused to play along, and insisted that he found the media characterization of the situation suspicious, as he generally doesn’t believe what the media claims.
Referencing the matter of Wilson’s alleged comments, Sen. Rosen snapped at Hegseth, acidly asking, “Secretary Hegseth, would you agree that every senior official in the Department of Defense must reflect the values and conduct that our service members must uphold and our citizens expect?”
Still not playing along, he told her, “Senator, we want to uphold the highest possible standards.” Continuing, the woke and agitated lawmaker said, “I’ll take that for a yes. So would you also agree then that anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have no place in our government or military? Yes or no.” He told her, “They should not.” Continuing with the angry questioning, she then snapped, “Thank you. So would you also agree that anyone who has posted, and I’m going to quote anti semitic conspiracy theories lifted right out of a neo Nazi playbook. End quote, shouldn’t be anywhere near a position of power, yes or no.”
Hegseth again pushed back on her wanton attacking and smearing of a DoD employee, arguing that the media often mischaracterizes comments and probably did so here. He said, “Since I don’t believe the characterization of many officials in the news media, I would need to see precisely what’s being characterized, but generally.”
Sen. Rosen then demanded Hegseth fire the DoD press secretary, which led him to stand by her and retort, “Again, that’s why I referenced the context and characterization we’ll send you the I’ve worked directly with her. She does a fantastic job, and there’s any suggestion that I’m I or her or others are party to anti semitism is a mischaracterization attempting to win political points. And I’m going to Senator, you’re attempting to win political points on the backs of mischaracterizing the statements of a member.”
Their fight then continued on for a while, and led to Sen. Rosen snapping, “So do you believe it’s appropriate for any social media personality to influence personnel decisions in your department? Yes or No.” Hegseth, smirking at himself as he set her off with a clever line, told her, “I believe your time is up.”
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Sen. Rosen then absolutely lost it, freaking out and practically shouting, “Oh, it is not up to you to tell me when my time is up. Well, the time and I am going to say, Mr. Secretary, you’re either feckless or complicit. You’re not in control of your department. Yours is unserious. It is shocking. You’re not combating anti-Semitism within your ranks. It’s a dangerous and pivotal time in our nation’s history. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back, and I don’t appreciate the smirk, sir, you are the Secretary of Defense.”
Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video