Hegseth back in the spotlight with series of Capitol Hill hearings
CNN
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth heads to Capitol Hill for a series of Congressional hearings over the next week that are likely to be a major test of his leadership following what is widely viewed as a rocky first few months on the job.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth heads to Capitol Hill for a series of congressional hearings over the next week that are likely to be a major test of his leadership following what is widely viewed as a rocky first few months on the job. The hearings, which begin Tuesday in front of a House subcommittee, will be the first time Hegseth will testify to Congress since his confirmation hearings in January and negative headlines earlier in the spring about chaos and dysfunction at the Pentagon. Lawmakers will have their first chance to question Hegseth under oath about his role in Signalgate, in which he and other national security officials discussed detailed military plans in a text chain that inadvertently included a prominent journalist. Hegseth – who will be testifying alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine – is also likely to face questions on a number of other thorny topics, including his plans to mobilize Marines to Los Angeles; the large-scale military operation against the Houthis in Yemen that ended abruptly last month; and his clashes with the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Drama consumed Hegseth’s office this spring. He invited Elon Musk to the Pentagon for a classified briefing without first informing the White House and fired three senior Defense Department officials he accused of leaking to the press. Hegseth also faced significant blowback after sharing detailed military plans in a secure messaging app about a forthcoming strike on Yemen back in March. The tumult and negative headlines Hegseth created – including one from his former spokesman John Ullyot, who said the Pentagon was in “chaos” under his leadership – led key White House officials to warn him that the drama needed to stop, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
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