U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Sparks flew in Pete Hegseth‘s third straight day of congressional hearings, as a House member demanded the defense secretary’s resignation.
The heated exchange between Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., and Hegseth came after the head of the Pentagon dodged a number of questions from members of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
Hegseth had already evaded inquiries about the deployment of troops to Los Angeles and the possibility of plans on invading Greenland and Panama. When Carbajal asked Hegseth if serving in the Trump admin required a loyalty test, Hegseth pushed the representative over the edge when he avoided a direct answer and called the question “silly.”
“I’m not going to waste my time anymore,” Carbajal said. “You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions. You’re an embarrassment to this country. You’re unfit to lead, and there’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation. You should just get the hell out and let somebody competently lead this department.”
On Thursday, Hegseth was grilled by lawmakers about the Trump administration’s decision to deploy the California National Guard and several hundred Marines to Los Angeles. That deployment has been challenged in court by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., asked Hegseth if he would abide by a court’s ruling in that suit.
“Can you assure the American people of two things: you will respect any Supreme Court decision on this matter about whether the Marines are constitutional, and you will respect the district courts when they rule before the Supreme Court rules?” she asked.
Hegseth balked.
“What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country,” he said.
Also on Thursday, Hegseth puzzled Democrats and Republicans when he failed to definitively answer questions about whether the administration intends to invade Greenland and Panama. Instead of offering a clear answer, Hegseth repeatedly said the Pentagon has “plans” for various scenarios.
“Any contingency you need, we’ve got it. We’ve got a building full of planners, and we’re prepared to give recommendations whenever needed,” Hegseth said.
