‘For Fact’s Sake!’ MS NOW Host Trashes Trump for ‘Making Excuses’ for Howard Lutnick’s ‘Sickening’ Iran Blunder

MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle laid into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over a major Iran gaffe after President Donald Trump came forward to make “excuses” for the man.

On Thursday’s Money, Power, Politics, Ruhle aired a clip of Lutnick the day prior on Squawk Box where he made the odd claim that no Americans have died in the Iran war — despite 18 service members dying in reality.

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday morning to claim Lutnick was referring to Venezuela when he made his comments. Lutnick also said in his own statement that he “misspoke.”

“I think the way the president is playing Iran, there haven’t been American deaths, it’s really just an economic choke-out, which the administration is now executing more broadly and I think it will be very effective,” Lutnick originally said.

“There haven’t been American deaths?!” a shocked Ruhle said in response. “For fact’s sake, 18 Americans have died in this war. Earlier this morning, the president, he was making excuses for Howard Lutnick.”

After reading Trump’s Truth Social post defending Lutnick, Ruhle turned to MS NOW military analyst and retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who called the comments “unforgivable.”

He said:

There’s an expression in the military, Stephanie, called stay in your lane. I personally don’t want the Commerce Secretary talking about killed and wounded in action because not only is this, you know, it’s just egregious, but there’s a bunch of families right now that are saying WTF. What’s going on in our government when one of our secretaries, our cabinet secretaries, does not know that there have been soldiers killed and over several hundred wounded?

Hertling argued Lutnick’s carelessness is part of a larger issue in the administration. He also called out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over taunts towards Canada amid an increasingly-tense trade war.

He said:

We also have Secretary Bessent, who is challenging one of our firmest allies in Canada, suggesting that they they have to go to a mall in Ottawa to get submarines to attack us. I mean, it’s silliness what these people are doing. It isn’t the kind of adult behavior that you would expect out of people who are running the government. And I just find Secretary Lutnick’s comments especially hurtful to the family members, and that’s just unforgivable. I’m glad the president corrected him, but I don’t think having something else in your mind, or something else on your mind, would allow you to say something like that that’s hurtful to not only the military, but also their families.

“Silliness. More like sickening,” Ruhle said before closing the segment.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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