A California Democrat told Pete Hegseth on Thursday that he is an ’embarrassment’ to the United States and should ‘get the hell out’ of the Department of Defense after the Secretary chided the lawmaker for a ‘silly question’ he asked during a house hearing.
The outburst from Rep. Salud Carbajal was immediately followed by a call for decorum as lawmakers from the House Armed Services Committee were questioning Hegseth about the Department of Defense’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request.
Tensions started escalating on Capitol Hill as Carbajal asked Hegseth a series of yes or no questions, beginning with the deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines in Los Angeles to quell the unrest generated by anti-ICE protests.
‘Let’s call it for what it is. It’s political theater. Hegseth, are the Marines in Los Angeles ordered to protect property by any means necessary?’ Carbajal asked him.
‘Sir, I would say the ICE officers and police officers being attacked is not political theater,’ he responded, before Carbajal cut him off and said ‘just yes or no?’
‘The National Guard and Marines have the full authority to protect federal ICE agents,’ Hegseth continued.
‘Yes or no? Can you just say yes or no? This isn’t Fox anymore. Just yes or no,’ Carbajal said.
At one point, Carbajal told Hegseth that ‘Kindergartners can give me a yes or no’ and asked him ‘Do you think political allegiance to Trump is a requirement for serving our nation, either in uniform or a civilian in the department?’
‘Congressman, you know what a silly question that is,’ Hegseth responded.
‘You know what? I’m not going to waste my time anymore. 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,’ Carbajal concluded.
In his opening statement, Hegseth said ‘Under President Trump’s leadership, this budget puts America first and gives our warriors what they need. The $961 billion budget request — more than 1 trillion in total for national security — ends four years of chronic underinvestment in our military.’
‘We are restoring the warrior ethos. President Trump charged me to focus relentlessly on war fighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards and readiness. And that is exactly what we’ve done since day one. We are refocusing on what is truly important, which is war fighting and our warriors, sweeping away distractions and bureaucracy. We are setting standards that are high, equal and unwavering,’ Hegseth continued.
‘DEI is dead. We replaced it with a colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based approach. Our forces are responding incredibly to these changes. Because of President Trump and his America First priorities, recruitment and retention under this administration are higher than they’ve been in decades. Historic numbers of young Americans are putting on the uniform and raising their right hand because they believe in the leadership they see,’ he added.
Hegseth also told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that ‘we applaud allies who are stepping up, but others need to do more, and they need to do it quickly and at the NATO heads of state meeting later this month, we expect our NATO allies to commit to 5% of GDP on defense and defense related investments, something that was almost inconceivable before President Trump led the charge in his first administration and continues in this one.’