Defense Secretary Hegseth blew up at former Navy Captain Mark Kelly again (Image: Getty)
Pete Hegseth issued a furious response to Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, accusing him of “blabbing” on TV about classified information.
Writing on X, the war secretary said: “‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again. Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath…again? Department of War legal counsel will review.”
Hegseth was referring to Senator Kelly’s interview with Face the Nation, where the former military man turned politician raised concerns about how a war with Iran could drain Washington’s weapons reserves.
Kelly said it was “shocking” how much the US has already drawn from its stockpiles, adding that replenishing them could take years.
“We’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means the American people are less safe,” Kelly said on Face the Nation early on Sunday, May 10. “Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted.”
“If a conflict goes on for months or years, when it takes years to replenish some of these munitions, of course, we’re going to be in a worse posture than we otherwise would be in if this war in Iran didn’t happen,” Kelly told the news outlet.
The Arizona Senator also added that he didn’t feel as though Trump’s military budget request was in line with the costs of replacing the munitions lost on the currently battlefield. “When I got to the Senate five-and-a-half years ago, the defense budget was just over $700 billion,” he said. “Now they’re asking for twice as much money. It’s nearly the amount that the rest of the world pays for its defense.”
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly has clashed with the Trump administration before (Image: Getty)
Kelly has already been facing off with the Trump administration.
In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers appeared on a video in which they urged troops to uphold the Constitution and not to follow unlawful military directives from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later oer their video.
In February, a Washington grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers over the video and Kelly sued in federal court to block his Jan. 5 censure from Hegseth.
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District Judge Richard Leon’s order prohibits the Pentagon from implementing or enforcing Kelly’s punishment while his lawsuit is pending.
Leon ruled that Pentagon officials not only violated Kelly’s First Amendment free speech rights, but they also “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.” The judge invoked an old-fashioned rebuke — “Horsefeathers!” — in response to the government’s claim that Kelly is trying to exempt himself from the rules of military justice.
Also in February, Kelly, who represents Arizona, said in a social media post that the only reason for Hegseth to appeal is to “keep trampling on the free speech rights of retired veterans and silence dissent.”
“These guys don’t know when to quit,” Kelly wrote on his X account.
Hegseth had vowed to immediately appeal Leon’s decision. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain,'” he posted on his X account, referring to Kelly by his rank at retirement, something that he has recycled in his comments about Kelly.
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