GOP Senators Turn on Hegseth Over Iran War
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- Senator Thom Tillis said he has "no confidence" in Hegseth, calling him "all over the place" with a "massive insecurity complex" and criticizing his micromanagement and lack of large-organization experience.
- Senator Joni Ernst and other Republicans blocked Hegseth's nomination of General Christopher LaNeve as Army chief of staff, citing LaNeve's lack of experience — he had been installed as acting chief in April after Hegseth fired General Randy George without explanation.
- Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker joined objections to the LaNeve nomination and had previously demanded Hegseth clarify the legal basis for lethal strikes on small civilian boats in Venezuelan waters that Trump claimed were trafficking drugs.
- Senator Mitch McConnell objected to key parts of Hegseth's $1.5 trillion 2027 Pentagon budget request, including the "Golden Dome" missile shield, and criticized the administration's strained ties with NATO allies as "only serv[ing] our adversaries' interests."
- Hegseth was called a "failure" by Democratic Senator Gary Peters during a recent shouting match on the Hill over the Iran war — launched February 28 by the US and Israel — that Hegseth had promised to resolve swiftly but which continues with no peace deal in sight.
- Hegseth faced early-2025 scrutiny for disclosing classified information about upcoming Yemen strikes in messaging chats with journalists, and legal experts questioned his orders for the Venezuelan boat strikes as potential war crimes.
Why it matters: Four sitting GOP senators — Tillis, Ernst, Wicker, and McConnell — are now publicly breaking with Hegseth on the LaNeve nomination, Pentagon budget structure, and NATO posture, leaving the defense secretary more dependent on Trump for cover while complicating Senate passage of his $1.5 trillion 2027 budget and any supplemental Iran-war funding requests.
