Bakari Sellers Explodes as Scott Jennings Needles Him for Calling Hegseth ‘Incompetent’ Over Iran Girls School Bombing ‘Transparency’

CNN NewsNight panelist Bakari Sellers exploded Monday night after conservative pundit Scott Jennings needled him to back up his claim Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was “incompetent” and failing to provide “transparency” on who was responsible for the bombing of a girls school in Iran.

The debate came after The New York Times reported that newly surfaced video appears to show a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile striking near the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab during the first wave of the U.S.-Israeli campaign known as Operation Epic Fury.

The strike killed 175 people, many of them children, according to Iranian state media.

In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, Hegseth declined to answer questions on the strike and said that the Pentagon was “investigating,” but insisted that the U.S. military would “never target civilians.”

On Monday’s NewsNight, co-panelist Sabrina Singh, former deputy Pentagon spokeswoman under President Joe Biden, defended Hegseth’s statement as “right” given the ongoing investigation.

Sellers countered and accused Hegseth of failing to provide answers to the American people as he trashed the defense secretary as a “Fox News host” – contrasting him with his Biden-era predecessor.

“[Biden Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin was former commander of Centcom, 4-star general. Peter Hegseth, Fox News host,” he said. “Very different resumes.”

Jennings cut in: “Decorated military veteran.”

“Very different resumes,” Sellers pressed. “There is no one there –”

“Can you not acknowledge that the man served?” Jennings continued.

“Yes, the man served,” Sellers admitted.

“Heavily decorated,” Jennings said.

Sellers replied: “Not in combat!”

The panel piled on, clarifying that Hegseth had been in Iraq and Afghanistan, with host Abby Phillip noting he’d earned a bronze star.

Sellers continued: “My point that I want to get back to is there is a level of competence that the American public is thirsting for that they are not getting from Pete Hegseth. And we’re seeing that when he is up there.”

“Transparency, that’s all we want. We’re talking about 160 children that were killed. All we want is an honest answer that comes from you and the president of the United States. This isn’t politics. This isn’t Lindsey Graham vs. Cory Booker, this is just tell us what we’re doing because we have seven soldiers. As Abby corrected me last segment, we have seven soldiers who have died. We have 160 children who have died. We understand that this is the fog of war. However, we want a level of competence from Pete Hegseth that we’re not getting,” he added.

Jennings interrupted: “Hold on! What is incompetent about this military operation, in your opinion? In your expert opinion?”

“First of all, I never served,” Sellers began.

“You’re quick to say this is incompetent,” Jennings pressed. “I want to know what’s incompetent.”

Sellers returned: “No! No, no, no, I think Pete Hegseth is incompetent –”

“Why? What’s happening?” Jennings quipped.

“Because he has an inability to tell the truth,” Sellers said.

“What did he say? What did he say that was false?” Jennings continued to push.

“Because we know what happened,” Sellers exclaimed.

“No we don’t,” Jennings replied. “They’re investigating.”

As Phillip tried to intercede, Sellers shot back: “No, no, no! Hold on! I want all of you all to go out on a limb right now and tell me that the United States, even during the fog of war, did not kill those kids. Tell me they didn’t!”

“I don’t know, they’re investigating it and I’m willing to abide by the results,” Jennings said, pointing to Singh: “As she said, that’s the right answer.”

Watch above via CNN.

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