SerpApi.Org
Pete Hegseth has been at the center of growing backlash as the war in Iran wages on, and it seems CNN isn't letting him shy away from it.
The Secretary of defense testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, asking to advance a supplemental funding package for the ongoing Iran war, despite 69% of Americans disapproving of the way President Donald Trump is handling the conflict
That's not to mention the latest estimate, which puts the Pentagon's cost of the Iran war at about $37.5 billion so far. Hegseth also updated lawmakers who are overseeing a request from his department for $87.6bn in additional funding. With the story dominating headlines at the moment, CNN ran a special segment looking back at all the comments Hegseth had made since the war kicked off.
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The segment in question, which aired on Laura Coats Live, featured Hegeth speaking about the war from its early days in February to more recent times.
"Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come. Iran's navy is at the bottom of the sea," he defiantly said at a press conference.
CNN then showed a clip of a sheepish Hegseth saying, "They would try to impose their will on the waterways in ways that the world would not like. Call it a toll. Call it a fee. Call it an exchange. Call it control. They would do something that they would try to hold it at issue," at his recent plea to the Senate's Appropriations Committee.
Host Coats told viewers, "Then you've got shrinking American munition stockpiles. Last month, Hegseth was dismissing concerns, and it was even an issue. Today, it was a reason the military needs an urgent cash infusion."
Another clip played showing Hegseth on CNN's Face The Nation, when Margaret Brennan posed, "There is a crisis with those stockpiles right now in private industry--."
Brennan got cut off as Hegseth insisted, "That is a manufacturing story that the media wants in front of Congress. And ultimately, we're our stockpiles are great, and they only get stronger."
Contrary to those previous comments, another clip played of Hegseth at the hearing where he said, "We face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption."
"But there is one question where Hegseth never seems to waver, and it's this one: Who's to blame for all of this?" Coats said, as several clips flashed on screen showing him shifting the blame onto former President Joe Biden and his administration.
"Million names, titles missing, over and over, but not the one currently in the Oval Office who decided to engage in this war," Laura Coats Live concluded.
Viewers were also quick to jump on the bandwagon, with one X user blasting, "Hegseth doesn't care about anything but what his hair and makeup look like. Beyond that, he is a Trump sycophant. Expect only lies that fit Trump's lies"
Another joked, "I would say don’t listen to old Pete, that’s fake news. Listen to new Pete," prompting a third to add, "MAGA won’t be happy until they are working in factories 16 hours a day building munitions so that they can be told what days they are allowed to leave to go shopping or be hit with a drone using flock surveillance."
Someone else blasted, "Honestly, you have to be insane or brain dead to, for one moment, think this wannabe He-Man is in any way, shape or form qualified for the job he holds. What an embarrassment!"
The U.S. bombed Iran for the 10th consecutive night on Monday (July 20) after Iran strikes on Jordan killed two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers over the weekend.
Another U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq while disposing of an Iranian drone. At least 17 U.S. soldiers have been killed since Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war in February.
