Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former paratrooper and Army Ranger, got into a rather heated exchange with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, questioning him on conflicts of interests concerning a top adviser that the secretary described as a “long term friend” and “great patriot.”
The controversy is over Special Advisor to the Secretary of War Tim Parlatore, who also maintains a private law practice that represents a number of clients who might have previously done business with the government and could potentially benefit from having an attorney with close connections to someone like Hegseth. The secretary, however, realized the whole line of questioning was a setup and refused to play along.
Hegseth commissioned Parlatore into the Navy Reserve in March 2025, bypassing the vetting and oversight provided by the White House Presidential Personnel Office and the U.S. Senate. Crow believes that keeping Parlatore at the Pentagon despite the conflicts of interest reveals a failure in leadership for those in the military, with the blame falling on the secretary’s shoulders.
According to a press release from Crow’s office, Parlatore previously served as Hegseth’s personal lawyer when he faced allegations of sexual assault. The attorney has also represented a number of soldiers. Later during the questioning, Crow brought up Parlatore’s past service as a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team and has been accused by the president’s team of lying. Trump also reportedly referred to him as “unstable.”
It was this very point that led to the huge blowup between Crow and Secretary Hegseth that resulted in his shutting down the Democratic congressman in epic fashion. “Secretary Hegseth, what I’m really concerned about is you purport to have unfaltering loyalty to President Trump, and yet you are continuously…” Crow said before Hegseth interrupted him.
“Oh, you care a lot about President Trump, don’t you,” the secretary fired back. Crow tried to reclaim his time, saying, “I reclaim my time. You’re going behind his back and appointing people…” Hegseth again interjected, saying, “This is a cute waste of your five minutes that led nowhere.” The secretary repeated his “cute waste of time” remark.
“I reclaim my time. You are repeatedly going behind President Trump’s back, appointing people who he has accused of lying, who the White House has accused of lying, and you are not being honest with President Trump,” Crow concluded. A clip of the exchange was shared on social media and has since gone viral, garnering passionate responses from folks in the comment section.
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One user nailed the exchange with a witty joke posted on Facebook, writing, “Isn’t that cute. He was trying to get his 5 minutes of fame and ended up eating crow!!!” Another noted the lack of support for Crow from anyone else present in the room. “Love how the Congressman looks around the room to see if anyone was with him, nobody was!” the user stated. Another humorously noted, “We can tell who won on the playground.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video