Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., blasted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday’s “Morning Joe” over reports that Hegseth may have committed war crimes during a military strike on a suspected drug boat in September.
Hegseth has come under fire after the White House confirmed that the U.S. carried out a second strike on a vessel off the coast of Venezuela, killing those who survived the first hit. The order could be a violation of the laws of war, which state that survivors should be rescued.
Kelly, one of the six Democratic lawmakers who participated in a video urging military officers not to comply with illegal orders from the Trump administration, said on MS NOW that Hegseth’s reported behavior is “the kind of thing we were talking about.”
The former Navy pilot said he and colleagues put out the video because they were “concerned” about what could happen when “you put somebody in charge of the Department of Defense who rises to a level of incompetence that I don’t think we have seen in any government department.”
While the defense chief has denied giving the second-strike order, Kelly said the U.S. “got into this situation because of the incompetence of Pete Hegseth.”
And Kelly added that the criticism of Hegseth isn’t just coming from Democrats. He said on “Morning Joe” that some Republicans are beginning to express “regret” for voting to confirm the former Fox News anchor. “They know they should have never voted for this guy, that he’s incompetent,” he said.
Kelly said that strike “seems very obviously not consistent with the laws of armed conflict, with the manual of war the DOD has published, and what we’ve operated under.” He also called for a congressional investigation into the matter.
The Arizona Democrat, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said that while an official from the administration did brief lawmakers on the first strike, they did not “share all the information with us.” “As I recall, he didn’t say that there was a second weapon used,” Kelly said. “We asked a bunch of questions. They seem to me to be sort of evasive. Their legal analysis about this entire operation has a bunch of holes in it. So I want to see the video. I want to see whatever transcript they have about what was said in the room.” The senator said the American people deserve “transparency” from the administration. You can watch Kelly’s full interview on “Morning Joe” in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. Recommended
