An Edit of Pete Hegseth Testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee 6/11/25

This is a 24-minute edit of Defense Pete Hegseth’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee during a hearing in Washington. The Senate is reviewing the Defense Department's fiscal year 2026 budget.

The full hearing was over two hours long. Gen. Dan Caine does not appear in this edit or transcript. He conducted himself in a professional manner and was far more forthcoming with the committee than Hegseth.

I’ve also included some fact checking and hyperlinks to sources for additional context. Hegseth made a number of false statements and was generally defensive and evasive throughout the hearing.

Just a few days ago Hegseth blocked a transfer of weapons to Ukraine with very little warning. The weapons were approved by Congress.

Here’s a quick breakdown if you want to jump to any particular part in the video.

• Ukraine

  • 0:00 Sen. Coons - Hegseth did not plan for any military spending for Ukraine in 2026.

• The Use of National Guard and Active Duty Marines in California

  • 4:31 - Sen. Reed

  • 19:54 - Sen. Baldwin

• $400 million plane from Qatar

  • 8:36 - Sen. Reed - Hegseth tried to claim information about the plane was classified.

  • 13:40 - Sen. Murphy - upgrading the plan could cost as much as $1 billion.

• Medical Research for the Military

  • 10:57 - Sen. Dick Durbin

• January 6th - The use of the National Guard

  • 17:28 - Sen. Murphy (This might be the most alarming testimony in the hearing)

• Transgender troops in the military

  • 21:22 - Sen. Baldwin

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE)

Coons: It seems to me clear with regards to Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin has no serious intent of negotiating. He continues to attack civilian targets night after night with hundreds and hundreds of drones. The Ukrainians have just carried out a spectacular attack against military targets. And it seems to me, concerning that the 2026 request eliminates aid to Ukraine entirely. At the same time, the Senate has a strongly bipartisan bill led by Senator Graham and Senator Blumenthal to impose more sanctions on Russia. And many senators of both parties want to provide more aid to Ukraine. Would you agree, Mr. Secretary, that the United States should use every tool it has at its disposal, including additional sanctions to pressure Russia to come to the table to negotiate a just and lasting peace for the war in Ukraine.

Hegseth: Senator, every tool at our disposal. No. We have a lot of tools in a lot of places. Let me be more there.

Coons: Let me be more narrow. You said and I'll take some exception to this, that our European allies cannot freeload off the United States in perpetuity. My impression is that article five of the NATO treaty was only invoked once. It was after 9/11. And a significant number of our European allies and partners deployed Afghanistan alongside us and suffered significant combat casualties. In the first two years of the war in Ukraine, a war of Russian aggression, 50 other countries stepped forward, deployed military support, delivered material, provided financial and operating support, and at regular meetings of the Defense Contact Group. Your predecessor led that process of deploying military assistance. What message do you think it sends that as Ukraine continues to suffer day after day of punishing attacks on civilian centers, we're not using the $3.8 billion in presidential drawdown authority that remains to send additional air defense and interceptors. And you yourself chose to not attend the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Mr. Secretary, why not use the already appropriated presidential drawdown authority to deliver defense materiel badly needed by Ukraine?

Hegseth: Well, Senator, as you know, the presidential drawdown authority 71 through 74 still apply, and they are still flowing. There's some in reserve. To your question about my statement, and I served with a lot of NATO allies in Afghanistan as well. Incredibly capable Canadians, Brits and Australians and others, and grateful for them. And I've gotten to know a lot of them in this process. But going to Brussels, amazing people, amazing countries.

Coons: Thus, I was struck, Mr. Secretary.

Hegseth: But we also we also were a patch on our shoulder. Yes. That said ISAF International Security Assistance Force. And you know what the joke was that it stood for? I saw Americans fighting because what ultimately was a lot of flags, a lot of flags was not a lot of on the ground capability. You're not a real coalition. You're not a real alliance unless you have real defense capability and real armies that can bring those to bear. And that's a reality that Europe is waking up to quickly. And we're glad because,

Coons: Mr. Secretary

Hegseth: And we want them to be safe and free and secure. And sometimes that takes true talk. Yeah. Tough love. And they've responded very well to that. They we want them to succeed.

Coons: Mr. Secretary, let's just make clear for the record that our military partners in Afghanistan included many who served and died, our Danish partners and allies, on a per capita basis.

Hegseth: Don't try to make it look like I don't care about the investments of our partners. Of course I do. I recognize that there were lives lost from other countries. Of course, all of the effort was Americans. And an alliance needs to include other countries and be more balanced.

Coons: Mr. Secretary as I pointed out in my opening comments, our partners and allies have stepped up, have invested, have engaged in the defense of Ukraine, and so should we. We should not be pursuing a cease fire and a negotiated resolution to the war in Ukraine at any cost. Peace through strength means actually using our strength, continuing to support Ukraine and securing a lasting peace. Putin will only stop when we stop him, and the best way to stop him is indeed through a stronger NATO. I look forward to the NATO summit. I agree with you that a significant investment by NATO in our collective security is a great investment, but we cannot abandon Ukraine. That would put us significant at a strategic disadvantage.

Context Note - Denmark’s Military Casualties in Afghanistan

Senator Coons was correct in terms of military losses Denmark had the highest per capita death rate in Afghanistan of any NATO coalition force. Denmark suffered 43 casualties with a population of only 5.94 million.

The United States ultimately had a higher rate of casualties but only after staying in the war until August 2021. The NATO coalition combat mission ended on December 28, 2014.