Trump walks back on Powell firing comments; Vance says U.S. may drop Ukraine-Russia peace talks
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said the Trump administration’s public support of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid the developing Signal group chat controversy comes at “great risk” to the country’s national security.
“It’s becoming clear that Secretary Hegseth simply doesn’t have the management experience to run this department,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., told MSNBC’s Ana Cabrera in an interview this morning. “He is not up to the task of managing the Pentagon.”
Smith, who led a resolution last month that sought to obtain all communications from Hegseth related to the military plans that were shared in an unsecured Signal app group chat for review, accused Trump of putting Hegseth’s loyalty to him above his realistic ability to lead America’s largest government agency.
“Nobody could defend what Pete Hegseth has done. I mean, a Signal chat including a reporter, leaking war plans?,” Smith said. “You cannot defend in any rational world what Pete Hegseth has done for the last two months, and yet that’s exactly what Trump and Vance are doing, and they’re keeping him in place at great risk.”
Asked about Republican Rep. Don Bacon publicly questioning Hegseth’s ability to lead the Defense Department, Smith said he admired Bacon’s admission of concern, adding that “a lot of Republicans are simply hiding.”
