Senate Republicans are suddenly trying to hold Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accountable after more than a year and a half of what critics are calling rogue Pentagon operations, threatening to withhold his travel expenses unless he provides information on deadly boat strikes in the Atlantic and Pacific, the deaths of more than 120 Iranian school children in a double-tap in February, and the firings of top service personnel.
Lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee have included a provision in the multi-trillion-dollar defense policy bill that would humiliatingly restrict Hegseth’s travel budget by 75 percent unless he turns over the documentation Republicans are asking for.
Lawmakers already restricted 25 percent of the former Fox News host’s travel money last year, according to Politico, after Hegseth did not turn over complete video evidence of the strikes on alleged drug boats in Latin American waters, which have killed more than 200 people, and it appears Congress is still waiting for that information.
The committee filed the bill in the Senate on Tuesday as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that members approved in early June.
Republicans also want more information on the U.S. bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, on the first day of President Donald Trump’s war on Tehran on Feb. 28, which killed more than 160 people, most of them schoolgirls, news outlets have reported.
The Pentagon is still saying the deadly strike is under investigation, while officials have not yet even confirmed the U.S. military mistakenly bombed the school.
Also at issue is that Hegseth has fired dozens of top-ranking military brass without explanation. The committee’s defense bill includes a provision mandating the Pentagon inform Congress within a week of the firing or departure of any three- or four-star generals. The House version of the bill also contains the same provision, Politico reported.
Hegseth is also facing scrutiny over blocking military promotions. The Hill is reporting that he’s refused to move forward with Navy and Air Force promotions for a majority-Black, female group of officers.
And Trump dismissed a question about the school bombing on Wednesday, June 17. A reporter asked him whether he plans to hold anyone in his administration accountable for the deaths of so many children.
Trump, astonishingly, called it a “strange question.”
“No, if it was a fault, as you know it’s under investigation, uh, such a strange question to ask at this stage, you’re talking about a long time ago, but nobody did that on purpose,” Trump answered nonsensically.
Social media descended into fury over Hegseth’s dodging and delaying of important information that federal lawmakers have every right to review.
“My question – why has it taken this long? It’s been, what, 4 months on the girls’ school and 6-7 months on the fishing boats!!?” a Threads user wondered.
Another is taking the situation with Hegseth much more seriously. “Dude needs to be impeached and prosecuted.”
Others agreed, “Petey has to comply, otherwise IMPEACH HIM ALREADY, jeez.”
But at the end of the day, it may not even matter what’s in the Senate defense bill because the House has already passed its own defense measure that does not include restrictions on Hegseth’s travel budget. The two versions would have been resolved in a reconciliation process.
