Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who most conservative folks refer to as “Pocahontas,” a nickname bestowed upon her by President Donald Trump as a way to mock her false claim to have Native American heritage, thought she was going to roast then-Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing in January 2025, but the joke ultimately ended up being on her.
At one point during the hearing, Warren asked Hegseth if he planned to go into defense work immediately following the end of his tenure serving in President Donald Trump’s cabinet. Clearly, Warren thought she had the former Fox News personality backed into a corner. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Hegseth, a quick thinker, turned things around on Warren and made her the butt of the joke.
“Mr. Hegseth, you’ve written that after they retire, generals should be banned from working for the defense industry for 10 years,” Warren said to Hegseth during his appearance before the Senate Armed Forces Committee. “You and I agree on the corrosive effects of the revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors. The question I have for you on this is: Will you put your money where your mouth is and agree that when you leave this job, you will not work for the defense industry for 10 years?”
The soon-to-be Secretary of War responded by saying that he hasn’t given the idea of serving in the defense industry after his time in Trump’s cabinet is up much thought, adding that he would sit down and have a chat with the president before entertaining such a move. “Senator, it’s not even a question I’ve thought about,” he told the Massachusetts senator.
Warren was not satisfied with the response, having already determined before the hearing took place that Hegseth was definitely going to go into the defense industry. “In other words, you’re quite sure that every general who serves should not go directly into the defense industry for 10 years, but you’re not willing to make that same pledge?” she pressed, according to a report from The Western Journal.
And that’s when Hegseth showcased his comedic timing, retorting with a smirk, “I’m not a general, Senator.” Those who attended the hearing burst into laughter as Warren realized she just got roasted like a rotisserie chicken. Among the individuals attending the hearing were 30 former Navy SEALs and Special Forces veterans who were there to support Hegseth.
The future secretary wasn’t done yet. He shone in another brilliant moment when he brought up the Pentagon’s top-heavy bureaucracy. “We won World War II with seven four-star generals. Today we have 44 four-star generals. There’s an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battlefield,” Hegseth explained. “We don’t need more bureaucracy at the top, we need more warfighters empowered at the bottom. It’s going to be my job … to identify where fat can be cut, so it can go toward lethality,” Hegseth concluded.
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Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) also got an opportunity to question Hegseth. During that congenial exchange, the former Marine revealed why he was so passionate about serving as the secretary of defense. “People see me as someone who hosts a morning show on television. But people that really know me know where my heart’s at,” he told Scott. “It’s with the guys in this audience who’ve had my back, and I’ve had theirs,” Hegseth went on to say, pointing to the individuals who were there to support him. “We’ve been in some of the darkest and most difficult places you can ever be in. … I’m doing this job for them, for all of them.”