Pete Hegseth tangles with Senate Democrats: 5 takeaways

Filip Timotija

Thu, April 30, 2026 at 9:16 PM UTC

10 min read

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tangled with Senate Democrats Thursday during his second day of hearings on Capitol Hill, sparring with lawmakers over President Trump’s war with Iran, the Pentagon’s massive $1.5 trillion defense budget request and potentially sending troops to polling sites.

During the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, which lasted just under three hours, Hegseth for a second day in a row argued the biggest adversary the U.S. faces are the “reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans” and defended the recent high-profile firings of senior military officials.

Democrats peppered the Pentagon chief with questions about Iran and Ukraine while Republicans went easy on the defense secretary, praising him for the surge in military recruiting numbers, the number of military targets the U.S. military struck inside Iran and the Defense Department’s push to institute defense acquisition reform.

Hegseth was joined at the hearing by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, and the Pentagon’s acting chief financial officer, Jules Hurst III.

Here are five takeaways from Thursday’s hearing.

Democrats doubt Pentagon’s Iran war price tag

Several Senate Democrats raised doubts about the Pentagon’s estimate that the Iran war has cost about $25 billion, a figure Hurst revealed during Wednesday’s hearing in front of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the Pentagon’s number is “well below the actual cost based on everything that I’ve heard, everything available to us in various kinds of settings, and I’m going to ask for a more accurate assessment.”

When Blumenthal asked Hurst if the estimate includes the cost of damages to U.S. outposts in the Middle East, the department’s comptroller said it is “probably the hardest thing to estimate right now, because we don’t know what our future posture is going to be, or the future construction of those bases.”

Blumenthal responded that the Pentagon owed an answer to Capitol Hill.

“You’re here to ask for appropriations, and I would like a more accurate estimate of what has been done that will require replacement and renovation, as well as the other costs,” Blumenthal said, adding the $25 billion figure is “probably less than half, maybe less than a quarter of the total cost of war, which is the reason why the supplemental request is much higher.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member on SASC, said during his opening remarks that the $25 billion price tag “if nothing else that help clarifies that we certainly do not need a supplemental anywhere near $100 billion, much less $200 billion.”

Hegseth, offering a similar answer to the one he delivered to House lawmakers on Wednesday, said Trump’s decision to go to war was worth it to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“So the question I would ask to you and to others is, what is the cost of a nuclear-armed Iran? What is the cost to the American people?” he asked.

GOP senators go easy on Hegseth

Even as some GOP senators have been losing confidence in Hegseth and some think that Trump should move from him, committee Republicans mostly stuck behind the Pentagon head, touting the increases in recruiting numbers across service branches and the Pentagon’s push to institute defense acquisition reform, a priority of Trump.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) struck the tone others would follow by asking Hegseth what he was most proud of in his tenure so far.

“Well, I appreciate the question, and what I’m most proud of is the incredible men and women who serve in our nation in uniform, and what they are capable of when they’re given a clear mission and unleashed to do it,” Hegseth told Scott.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a defense hawk who is also the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked “isn’t it fair to say” that the war in Iran, like the Russia-Ukraine war, “hasn’t caused any challenges with our munitions” but has exposed “a decades-old problem of brittleness and fragility in our defense industrial base” that was now being addressed.

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said that he has been in Washington, D.C., for 10 years and that Hegseth is the “best” defense secretary “that we’ve had since I’ve been in Washington.”

Others on the GOP side of the aisle slightly pushed back on Hegseth’s firing of top Army personnel.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who was a crucial vote during Hegseth’s tough nomination process, thanked Hegseth and Caine for honoring those service members who were killed in the war with Iran but took issue with the ousters of respected Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George and the Army’s vice chief of staff , Gen. James Mingus.

“I was disappointed to see that their retirements were hastened over what I believed had been set out by you and the administration,” Ernst said before listing George’s accomplishments.

“I want to thank him for his service, and I would like to enter into the record, Mr. Chair, the speeches that I did honoring General Randy A. George on his retirement and General James J. Mingus on his retirement,” the Iowa senator said.

Hegseth, Kaine debate 60-day war powers clock

Hegseth clashed with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) over when the 60-day deadline expires for President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the conflict with Iran or ask Congress for an extension.

Trump notified Congress of the military operations in a March 2 letter, which would put the 60-day milestone outlined in the War Powers Act — which requires the president to wind down a war unless he obtains congressional approval — on Friday.

But the defense secretary argued that the administration believes the clock stopped when Trump announced a pause in the U.S. bombing campaign on April 7. The ceasefire has been extended indefinitely.

“Ultimately, I would defer to the White House and White House counsel on that. However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” Hegseth told Kaine.

Kaine objected, saying he did not believe the law supported Hegseth’s argument and that President Trump would either need to seek congressional authorization to continue fighting, end the war or request a 30-day extension to ensure the safe withdrawal of American troops.

“I think the 60 days runs maybe tomorrow, and it’s going to pose a really important legal question for the administration,” he said. “We have serious constitutional concerns, and we don’t want to layer those with additional statutory concerns.”

David Janovsky, the acting director of the Constitution Project at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), said the current ceasefire does not affect the 60-day clock.

“The War Powers Resolution is written in very broad terms. It refers to ‘hostilities, not war,’ and it even covers situations where hostilities are imminent but not actually occurring,” Janovsky said in an email on Thursday.

“Despite the ceasefire, there is very good reason to think the current state of affairs in the Persian Gulf constitutes ongoing hostilities,” Janovsky said, referring to the U.S. Navy actively enforcing the naval blockade and U.S. troops boarding multiple Iranian vessels.

Senate Democrats teed up a sixth war powers vote on Thursday aimed at curbing Trump’s ability to carry out further strikes against Tehran, an effort that Republicans in both chambers have repeatedly squashed since the start of the war.

Warren spars with Hegseth on insider trading

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Hegseth about what the Pentagon is doing to prevent insider trading amid concerns about potential market manipulation during military operations .

Warren asked the secretary for an explanation of what she described as a series of “perfectly timed spikes in trading activity” that allegedly coincided with major developments in the Iran war.

“It looks like insiders have been making out like bandits using secret information about the war,” she said. “Do you have a story for why just minutes before there’s an announcement, there’s a surge in trading activity?”

Hegseth said he was “more focused on doing my job and ensuring we execute properly” and “what happens in markets … is not something we’re involved in.”

“Senator, it’s not something we’re involved in at all,” he continued. “And of course, we take operational security level very seriously.”

The conversation turned tense after a few more minutes when Warren pivoted the line of questioning to Hegseth’s personal financial dealings.

The Massachusetts Democrat mentioned a Financial Times report stating that a broker for Hegseth attempted to buy shares in a BlackRock fund tied to defense contractors in the weeks leading up to the war.

“That entire story is false, has been from the beginning and was made up out of whole cloth,” Hegseth interjected. “I’m not looking for money. I don’t do it for money. I don’t do it for profit. I don’t do it for stocks.”

Hegseth continued speaking, while Warren implored him to let her finish the question.

“I’d like to hear you say: Did you, through your broker at Morgan Stanley or otherwise, seek to invest in any defense-related funds right before Trump started the Iran war?” she finally asked.

“I’ll give it to you as a big fat negative,” he replied.

“Is your broker getting your personal sign-off on any investment in individual stock?” Warren followed up.

“Bigger, fatter negative,” Hegseth said, adding that he was “not making investments.”

Hegseth deflects on sending troops to election sites

Hegseth again sought to deflect questions about whether he would deploy American troops to polling sites during the November midterm elections if ordered to do so by President Trump.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) asked the secretary whether he would obey an order from the president to “seize ballots or voting machines” in the 2026 elections.

“The federal government has never put the uniform military at our polls,” she said. “Will you stand up for the Constitution and say no, or will you salute and do his bidding?”

Hegseth accused the Michigan Democrat of engaging in “another gotcha hypothetical,” which Slotkin rebuffed.

“It’s not a hypothetical,” she shot back. “I refuse to accept — you give that answer all the time. You and I have done this dance before. Get over it.”

She alluded to an interview Trump gave The New York Times in January in which he expressed regret for not ordering the National Guard to seize Dominion voting machines in swing states following his 2020 election loss, as some of his outside advisors had suggested.

“You’re the guy here in the seat. It’s not hypothetical. Tell the American people. Will you deploy the uniform military to our polls to collect voter rolls or machines?” Slotkin pressed again.

Hegseth suggested Slotkin was “performing for cable news.” He also accused the Biden administration of deploying troops to 15 states during the 2024 election, to which Slotkin noted National Guard members were sent by governors, not the president.

Moments later, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) pressed Hegseth to answer Slotkin’s original question about whether he would obey Trump’s order if given.

“I’ve never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won’t, that goes without saying,” Hegseth replied.

Slotkin was one of six Democrats who urged military service members to refuse illegal orders in a taped video message last fall.

The exchange mirrored a back-and-forth in the HSAC hearing the day before , in which Hegseth sidestepped similar questions from Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii).

“Who are you beholden to, Mr. Secretary: the president or the Constitution?” Tokuda asked.

“Well, I very proudly serve this president and very proudly swear an oath to defend the Constitution,” he responded, chuckling.

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