Rep. Salud Carbajal calls Pete Hegseth ‘incompetent’ at House committee hearing
Central Coast Congressman Salud Carbajal ripped into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday — again.
The democratic congressman from Santa Barbara had a similarly heated exchanged with Hegseth last year, when he called the defense secretary an “embarrassment to the United States” and “unfit” to lead the department after he shared national security secrets in encrypted text groupchats with his family members and the editor of The Atlantic on the messaging platform Signal twice.
“I stand by what I said last time you were here,” Carbajal said Wednesday. “You were incompetent then, you’re incompetent now, and you’re the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to incompetence.”
This time, Carbajal pressed Hegseth on the cost of the ongoing war in Iran, if the Trump administration easing oil sanctions on Russia is being sympathetic to its war on Ukraine and the new rules making flu vaccines optional for servicemen.
“This president and his administration have claimed to be the most transparent of all time,” he said. “With that in mind, I’d love to get some straightforward, straightforward answers today.”
He also blasted the defense secretary for quoting a violent prayer from Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic film “Pulp Fiction,” passing it off as a bible verse, in reference to the war in Iran during a Christian worship service at the Pentagon.
“I’m also a fan of Pulp Fiction, and no, the movie is not an accurate portrayal of the bible,” Carbajal said. “You know what I’m talking about.”
Carbajal questions Hegseth on cost of ‘war of choice’ in Iran
Carbajal started off his line of questioning with what he called the Trump administration’s “war of choice” in Iran.
Carbajal: ”Some estimates show that the Trump administration’s war of choice in Iran is costing taxpayers around $1 billion every day. In addition to spending taxpayer money on a war they don’t want, it is also driving up costs — the cost of gas, while the cost of living is skyrocketing under this administration’s policies. To me, and I assume to the American people, it is unclear why we started this war, how it will end, and what anyone gained from it. Mr. Hegseth, about how much money has been spent on this war to date, and how much more do you anticipate spending?”
Hegseth: “Well, as our comptroller laid out, the estimate is less than $25 billion at this point, as far as in expenditure, and the question I would ask this committee is, what is it worth to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, considering the radical ambitions of that regime? I mean, almost every member of this dais at some point has said whether —“
The exchange escalated to the two men cutting off each other’s responses.
Carabajal: “Thank you for your answer, I’ll proceed to my next question, thank you for your answer —“
The defense secretary continued to speak over the congressman.
Hegseth: “— Iran can never have nuclear weapons. President Trump is the one that’s willing to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Carbajal: “Supposedly, we had taken care of the nuclear capability last time around, and now this war, we’re at it again. Because obviously we said we did, but we didn’t.”
Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s uranium enrichment sites during air strikes in June, months before more highly-enriched uranium was found.
Hegseth: “In a way —“
Carbajal cut him off.
Carbajal: “Wait, wait, wait. I want to reclaim my time.”
The congressman paused, then continued onto a new topic.
Carbajal asks about easing oil sanctions on Russia
Next, Carbajal questioned Hegseth on the Trump administration’s seemingly sympathetic relationship with Russia as it wages a war against Ukraine that U.S. policy has long opposed.
Carbajal: ”We know that the cost of oil and gas has gone up as a direct result of this war, and the American people are feeling that pain at the pump. In an attempt to alleviate the high price of gas caused directly by this president, he lifted sanctions on Russian oil. The way I see it, this is a massive gift to Putin and Russia’s struggling economy. Mr. Hegseth, is there any concern that easing sanctions against Russia will allow Putin to continue funding Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine?”
Hegseth: “Well, we’ve seen Russia’s and Putin’s inability to make effective battlefield gains, just like their inability to defend the Maduro regime with the billions of dollars of systems the Russians sent to Venezuela in order to defend him, which were defeated in 15 minutes. So Russia’s military capabilities are no match —“
Carbajal: ”And you don’t believe easing the sanctions is helping Russia?”
Hegseth: “We have the best energy team in the planet at the, uh, White House.”
Carbajal: ”This is not deja vu. It’s a simple yes or no —“
Hegseth: “Do you understand the energy dominance that this administration has unleashed —“
Carbajal: ”Alright, well I’ll proceed to my next question.”
Carbajal pushes back on new DOD vaccine policy
Lastly, Carbajal attacked the Department of Defense’s decision to no longer make the flu vaccine a requirement for U.S. servicemembers.
Carbajal: ”Last week, it was announced that the Department of Defense is no longer requiring service members to get their annual flu shot. Now this is an easy one for you. It’s a soft ball. Don’t screw it up. The rationale was to, and I quote, ‘restore freedom to our joint force.’”
He continued: “This has been a requirement since 1950 because it is an effective at preventing the spread of flu among our troops. It’s not some new woke requirement, as you like to lean on for much of your rhetoric. This decision is actively making our military less safe. ... Mr. Hegseth, at this time, there are plans — are there plans to remove the mandatory requirement of other vaccinations like measles, mumps and polio?”
Hegseth: ”We made very clear in our announcement that it applies to service members having a choice as it pertains to the flu vaccine.”
Carbajal: ”Don’t you think that’s a little reckless?”
Hegseth: “No, I think allowing well-informed Americans who serve our country to make a choice is not reckless, and commanders will still have latitude, say, for a submarine or something else, to make a decision for a unit about whether it could be mandatory in a particular circumstance, but overall, our troops have earned the right to be able to choose about something like that related to their health.”
Carbajal ended by calling Hegseth “incompetent” and yielded his time.
