Mark Kelly spars with Pete Hegseth in classified briefing
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and War Secretary Pete Hegseth clashed during a classified Senate briefing on recent U.S. military strikes against Venezuelan drug boats. The disagreement arose when Hegseth deflected Kelly’s questions about the strikes by referencing a Pentagon misconduct review concerning a video featuring Kelly and other former military veterans urging troops to disobey alleged illegal orders from the Trump governance. Kelly criticized Hegseth for bringing up this issue inappropriately during the briefing, suggesting that Hegseth was using the moment for political posturing. The incident highlighted ongoing tensions around clarity regarding the strikes, including disputes over the limited release of videos depicting the military actions. Senator Chris Coons confirmed the topic came up tangentially, noting that the video of a second strike would be shown only to members of the Armed Services Committees, including Kelly. The confrontation underscores broader political and military controversies related to U.S. operations near Venezuela and the scrutiny of veterans involved in political discourse.
Mark Kelly spars with Pete Hegseth in classified briefing
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and War Secretary Pete Hegseth exchanged barbs behind closed doors Tuesday over the Pentagon’s escalating “misconduct” review into the retired Navy combat veteran.
The encounter came during a classified all-senators briefing at the Capitol on recent U.S. military strikes against alleged drug boats off the Venezuelan coast.
According to Kelly, Hegseth deflected his question on strikes in the Caribbean by making reference to the ongoing review over a video in which Kelly and other former Democratic military and security veterans urged troops to disobey unspecified “illegal orders” from the Trump administration.
“He actually brought it up in the brief, oddly. Just some reiterating his talking points on this when I was specifically asking him questions about strikes,” Kelly recalled to reporters. “[It] again shows this is very performative for him, even in front of a group of senators.”
The Department of War did not respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) confirmed the issue arose “tangentially” in relation to the subject of the briefing, in which Hegseth confirmed a video of a second strike in September to kill survivors on a suspected Venezuelan drug boat will be made available to only those on the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. Kelly serves on the panel and will view the footage on Wednesday, which has only been shown to top congressional leaders.
Hegseth expressed “talking points” on the social media video that prompted warnings from the Pentagon of possible court martial proceedings, according to Kelly, who said he eventually noted to Hegseth that the then-Fox News contributor in 2016 made similar remarks about disobeying illegal orders in the context of then-candidate Trump’s first presidential campaign.
“I said, ‘Hey, these are the same views you had in 2016.’ Very eloquently, I said, like the way he expressed himself in 2016 about this same issue,” Kelly recalled. “I said, ‘By the way, you were specifically speaking about this president.’”
Kelly said Hegseth did not respond to his remark.
HEGSETH AND GOP CLASH OVER REFUSAL TO RELEASE VENEZUELAN BOAT STRIKES VIDEO
Kelly went on to accuse the administration of lacking transparency on a foreign affairs issue that’s created a political firestorm over Trump’s possible broader intent to force regime change against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
A spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), who serves on the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday that the senator views Kelly’s video as “irresponsible” but that “he does not believe it is a good use of the Pentagon’s time to investigate Senator Kelly,” according to Politico.
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