Pete Hegseth Gets Snippy With Reporter Pressing Him on ‘Unqualified’ Pentagon Staffer: I’m Rejecting Your ‘Unqualified Question’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got short with a reporter on Monday after he was asked about replacing former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown with an “underqualified” replacement.
Hegseth fired back and called the reporter’s question “unqualified” before fielding a question from another journalist.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced Brown, who he called a “fine man,” had been let go and would be replaced by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Dan “Razin” Caine.
Caine’s qualifications have been challenged. Brown was hailed by Trump critics as more than qualified for a top military position. In comments on Sunday, Hegseth said Brown was “an honorable man” but not “the right man for the moment.”
Monday afternoon, after Hegseth met with Saudi Defense Minister Khalid Bin Salman, he took questions from reporters.
He was asked, “Why did you select an underqualified, retired lieutenant general to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?”
Hegseth fired back, “I’m going to choose to reject your unqualified question.”
The Pentagon head told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream on Sunday that Brown and other military leaders were fired Friday night as part of a standard practice for an incoming president.
“We feel really good about the direction the Pentagon is headed under President Trump,” he said. “We’re going to focus on warfighting and lethality and accountability, and be the most transparent Pentagon that folks have seen in a long time.”
Hegseth told podcaster Shawn Ryan on Nov. 15 that Brown and other military leaders needed to be axed for pushing “woke bullshit.”
“You gotta fire the chairman of the joint chiefs, and you got to fire this – I mean, obviously you’re going to bring in a new secretary of defense, but any general that was involved, general, admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI, woke bullshit has got to go,” he said.
Watch above via C-SPAN.
