At a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) asked intelligence officials if Sec. Pete Hegseth was drinking before he 'leaked classified information' in a Signal chat.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yields, Mr. Gomez.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:04So I want to make a few things clear
00:06before we move on to other questions
00:09regarding the signal chat.
00:11Director Gabbard, yesterday before
00:12the Intelligence Committee,
00:14specifically when answering Senator Kelly,
00:17you repeatedly said you did not recall
00:19any discussion in the Houthi PC small group
00:23discussing operational details, strike targets,
00:26the type of vehicles and military units involved,
00:29or the timing and order of strikes.
00:32Do you stand by your testimony from yesterday
00:35that you do not recall any of the discussions
00:37regarding this type of classified information,
00:39yes or no?
00:42My response in the Senate yesterday,
00:44yes, I stand by that response.
00:46Obviously, the release of the screenshots
00:51that came from that chat group today
00:54were a refresher on what happened.
00:57As I said earlier, I was not involved
00:59with that portion of the chat,
01:01so it did not come to my recollection yesterday.
01:05So I take that as you stand by your
01:08do not recall yesterday stance
01:11when you were asked those questions.
01:13You've been in office 43 days.
01:18Director Radcliffe has been in office 62 days.
01:22This was considered the first major military operation
01:25using lethal force of the Trump administration.
01:29Was this the first, this was probably the first time
01:32that you've been involved with a discussion
01:35like this on a thread.
01:37It was not discussing, you were not on a group chat
01:40discussing where we're gonna go for lunch.
01:43You were discussing putting men and women
01:47of the armed services in harm's way.
01:50That's a major decision.
01:52So, and when did that happen?
01:5410 days ago?
01:57Okay, I'll answer that.
01:58It happened 10 days ago.
02:00Here's the point.
02:02Something of this magnitude,
02:05it's something that you would not forget.
02:08It's something that most people,
02:10if you're taking this job so seriously,
02:12that you would not forget.
02:17I mean, since I've been on this committee,
02:18there's been days that I have woken up
02:21in the middle of the night
02:22from the things I've learned in the SCIF.
02:25So deciding to use military force
02:27is something hard to imagine.
02:30So the do not recall doesn't pass the smell test.
02:34It makes it, it's unbelievable that was the case.
02:39So that's what the American people don't understand.
02:43And I know a lot of folks in this administration
02:46were saying that they're gonna take on the establishment
02:48and drain the swamp, but you have become that swamp
02:51in a matter of days, not weeks or months, days.
02:55So one of the things we're gonna look into
02:58is if what actually occurred,
03:02because the American people deserve a full accounting.
03:06Additionally, the main person who was involved
03:08in this thread that a lot of people wanna talk to
03:11is Secretary of Defense, Hegseth.
03:15And a lot of questions were brought up
03:16regarding his drinking habits and his confirmation hearing.
03:22To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth
03:24had been drinking before he leaked classified information?
03:29I don't have any knowledge
03:30of Secretary Hegseth's personal habits.
03:34Director Radcliffe, same question.
03:40Yes or no?
03:41You know, no, I'm gonna answer that.
03:43I think that's an offensive line of questioning.
03:45The answer's no.
03:46I find it interesting that you wanna,
03:48no, I'm gonna answer, you asked me a question,
03:51you want an answer?
03:52No, listen, it's a yes or no.
03:53You don't wanna focus on the good work
03:54that the CIA is doing, that the intelligence community.
03:57Director, I reclaim my time.
03:59Director, I reclaim my time.
04:02I have huge respect for the CIA,
04:05huge respect for our men and women in uniform,
04:08but this was a question that's on the top of minds
04:11of every American, right?
04:14He stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink.
04:19So, of course, we wanna know
04:21if his performance is compromised.
04:24If you or people were asking if General Austin
04:29was compromised because of a heart issue.
04:33Was his performance compromised
04:34because of a successful strike?
04:37Mr., I bring my, I reclaim my time.
04:39You wanna talk about accepting responsibility?
04:41Do you think you should accept responsibility
04:43for a successful strike to make Americans safer?
04:46You wanna focus on.
04:48I reclaim my time.
04:50So, here's the thing.
04:51This is serious.
04:54As somebody, we've been briefed in this committee
04:56about using signal.
04:57One of the things they basically said,
04:59the most secure, phone call.
05:01The least secure, text, messaging.
05:05And we know that your people are Russians,
05:08Chinese are on your phone.
05:09The gentleman's time's expired.
05:11Gentleman from Virginia, Mr.