Secretary of War Pete Hegseth accused Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) of incorrectly “babbling” about a classified Pentagon briefing during a national TV interview on Sunday — something Hegseth said the Department of War’s legal counsel would now be reviewing.
Hegseth ripped Kelly in an X post on Sunday night.
“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth posted. “Now he’s babbling on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED Pentagon briefing he received.”
Hegseth continued, “Did he violate his oath…again? [The Department of War] legal counsel will review.”
His comment was in response to Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan posting about Kelly’s interview on the show earlier in the day.
She said Kelly heard about the Pentagon’s classified briefing on the Iran war and its “impact on U.S. weapons stockpiles,” and that he told her it was “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines.”
She left out the part Kelly said immediately after, where he said President Donald Trump “got our country into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline.”
Brennan then noted Kelly had said the Tomahawks, ATACMS, SM-3, THAAD rounds, and Patriot rounds have been “hit hard,” in her words; she added Kelly told her it would take “years” to replenish the U.S. stockpile.
“The American people are less safe,” Kelly told her on the program. “Whether it’s a conflict in the Western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, munitions are depleted.” He also questioned what the American public is getting out of the Iran war.
This isn’t the first time Hegseth and Kelly have grappled, as anyone who has loosely followed either man over the last year knows.
Hegseth blasted Kelly last fall for his “seditious” behavior, after Kelly and five other Democrats shared a video where they urged troops to “refuse illegal orders.”
Watch part of Kelly’s interview with Brennan above, via CBS.
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