‘Conduct Unbecoming’: Veteran Group Leader Rips Hegseth For ‘Politicizing the Military’ With Wild Attack On the Media

CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip asked veteran advocate Paul Rieckhoff to weigh in on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wild press conference earlier in the day on Thursday, in which he savaged the media over its reporting on President Donald Trump’s Iran strikes. Hegseth accused the media of not adequately fawning over the military move, which Rieckhoff called out as “conduct unbecoming” for anyone leading the Pentagon.

“Iraq War veteran and the founder of Independent Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff, is joining us in our fifth seat. Paul, what’s your reaction to that? I have to say I don’t recall a defense secretary ever conducting a press conference like that. What do you think?” Phillip asked after showing a quick clip of Hegseth’s attack on the media.

“That’s America’s secretary of defense. To use a military term, it’s ‘conduct unbecoming.’ He looks rattled. He obviously looks thin-skinned. He’s extremely aggressive and volatile. And he’s attacking the press. We need him to attack our enemies. I wish he attacked Vladimir Putin as aggressively as he attacked CNN and others,” Rieckhoff replied, adding:

And I think what he’s doing is continuing to conflate the war with the warriors. It’s something we worked hard as a nation across partisan lines to separate after Vietnam, to separate the politics from the people. And they have melded the two together. And you’re right, they are using the military as a shield. Because the press is asking hard questions of our president doesn’t mean anything about the troops.

It’s entirely separate and they’re using it consistently as a very dangerous shield, which continues to politicize our military, which is their playbook now, which is very, very dangerous. I don’t know if it was obliterated or not, but I do know what is being obliterated, the Constitution. Because Congress has again abdicated the responsibility to rein in a president when he’s engaging in combat. We haven’t had an act of war since World War Two.

And I think the Republicans and Democrats at this table should be able to agree that Congress should have a voice here and the president should make his case to Congress and to the people before he commits the troops. There’s an old adage: first commit the country, then commit the troops. When you do it backwards, this is the kind of stuff that starts to happen.

“That point about Vietnam I think is so important, because the idea that troops are, you know, tied inexorably to the politics of a decision to go to war is not what I think a lot of Americans want. Troops carry out orders, and it doesn’t matter what the politics are behind it. But it also is completely separate from questioning the political decision-making. Why is that so hard to understand?” Phillip replied.

“Well, President Trump just threw the biggest military parade on his birthday on June 14th, right?” added pro-Trump panelist Angie Wong.

“Exactly,” joked Phillip.

“And he wants to celebrate the troops,” added Wong.

“Exactly, but I’m not sure that’s the defense you think it is,” Phillip joked.

Watch the clip above via CNN.