00:00In your opening remarks, Mr. Secretary, you reserved more words and more time and more vitriol to condemn Democrats than
00:09you did for Xi and for Putin combined.
00:12It's pretty telling to me that you decided to use your words and your time for that.
00:17It turns out that Democrats, even Democrats in Congress, are patriots as well.
00:22We serve in our uniformed services, we admire and love our uniformed services, and we love our country just as
00:30much as Republicans do.
00:31In fact, in this body, I and Representative Bacon, who you just spoke to, led the junior enlisted pay raises
00:39that you now sit there and laud and take credit for.
00:42We led the closing of the BAH, which then you ended up poaching and using for other things.
00:49This body led and authorized Ukrainian funding that is now being withheld.
00:55You also, in your opening remarks, strangely admonished us here for not being patient with the results of your two
01:01-month war.
01:02A war of your suggestion to this President, a war of your choice.
01:06A war you executed without congressional consultation.
01:09And so it shouldn't be shocking, sir, Mr. Secretary, that we have questions.
01:14Indeed, it's constitutionally our right to do so.
01:16So, to be clear, despite a brilliant performance by our men and women in uniform, despite thousands of tactical successes,
01:24Iran still has nuclear material, still has air defenses, still has small boats, and still has the strait.
01:31So, despite the fact that your recent comments indicate that operations appear to be finished,
01:37there clearly is more work that needs to be done.
01:39As mentioned, today is indeed 60 days.
01:42So, Mr. Secretary, how many more months, just order of magnitude,
01:46do you think that you're going to need to be able to conclude operations successfully?
01:50And how many more billions of dollars do you think you're going to ask this body for?
01:56Well, as you know, and as the President has stated, you would never tell your adversary.
02:00Sir, I recognize that is the line that you always do.
02:02Especially once you've decimated their military and you control their freight, how long you would be committed to the mission.
02:09And the next thing that you mentioned in your opening remarks, Mr. Secretary,
02:12is that you called on, which astounded me, examples of the Afghanistan war, the Iraq war, and the Vietnam war.
02:20Those are stunning examples to me of something that didn't go our way.
02:24We had the opportunity to execute on those wars quite well, but we didn't accomplish any mission, in my opinion.
02:31And I think you would agree on that as well.
02:33My point is, this effort is not those efforts.
02:35That's exactly it.
02:36Is this war shaping up to be that war?
02:38Because it has every indication in the future part of that.
02:39We're shaping up to get the same kind of Democrats we got in those wars,
02:42who were naysayers from the beginning, undermining the progress of troops.
02:45And we just have a conversation about the country and the nation and not about parties.
02:50The Democrat Party wanted to socially engineer the Department of War.
02:53We've had to undo that and get it to a point where it's capable of protecting power.
02:57Clearly you're not able to have that conversation.
02:59So I will move on, sir, and I'm going to reclaim my time.
03:02General George, let's talk about a guy who's a patriot.
03:05Somebody who every single person here in this dais and down there in that audience
03:10and out there in this world has huge admiration for.
03:14Why did he get fired?
03:17Well, as with any moves we make with general officers,
03:21first of all, I thank them for their service.
03:23And ultimately...
03:24My impression is you thanked him by a text or a phone call.
03:27You didn't even do it to his face.
03:30Out of respect for these officers, we never talk about the nature of their removal,
03:33but every one of them, including myself, knows that they serve at the pleasure of the president.
03:37Why did you fire him?
03:38Ultimately, out of respect to these officers, we don't reveal it.
03:41However, I will note, it's very difficult to change the culture of a department
03:44that has been destroyed by the wrong perspectives.
03:47So you think General George destroyed a culture?
03:50There are many...
03:51We've gotten rid of many general officers in this administration because we need new leadership.
03:56You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men who's ever...
04:00We needed new leadership.
04:02And so your answer is a very immature way of responding to my request.
04:06My next question has to do with my remaining time about the fact that there apparently are orders
04:11that you've recently given to the Navy to detail officers to command billets in special operations
04:17where they, the people who you're detailing, have already received bad performance reviews.
04:22They've received negative fitness reports.
04:24Is there a truth to that statement, sir?
04:26I'm not aware of what you're referring to.
04:28Have you ever ordered the Navy to add officers who never screened for special operations major command
04:33to the promotion list for flag officer?
04:36I'm not aware of what you're referring to.
04:38All right.
04:38I'll take that for...
04:39No.
04:40I yield.
04:41Generally yields back.
04:43For everybody's situational awareness, it's my plan at one o'clock or approximately one o'clock
04:48to recess for about 10 minutes to give the witnesses a chance to stretch their legs
04:51and visit the restroom if necessary.
04:53But with that, we will now go to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Jimenez.
04:58Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:59And, Mr. Secretary, are you aware that Iran either through our intelligence or they themselves
05:06said they had about 500 kilograms of enriched uranium, up to about 60 percent?
05:16We're aware of what they have or what they believe they have and what we know they have,
05:19but all of that is classified.
05:21Fair enough.
05:22And if, indeed, they had 500 kilograms of enriched uranium, how long would it take to
05:28take it to weapons grade?
05:32Quickly enough that it's a serious national security problem for the United States of
05:36America.
05:37If I said days or a few weeks, would that be inaccurate?
05:41You might be somewhere in the ballpark.
05:42Okay.
05:43Actually, you can just get that from ChatGDP.
05:46It'll give it to you.
05:47Okay?
05:47So it's not that classified.
05:51All right.
05:52Would you say that our primary mission in this war is to deny Iran the capability to develop
05:59a nuclear weapon?
06:01Yes.
06:02And would you say that a regime that's capable of killing 35,000 of its own people within a
06:08two-day period, are they capable, if they had the delivery systems, to carry out their threat
06:14to destroy Israel and also to harm the United States of America?
06:19Any regime willing to kill 35,000, and we think it might be more, 45,000 of their own citizens
06:25in cold blood, would most certainly be willing to use the most dangerous weapon in the world,
06:30especially as history teaches us, when a nation says they will do something, you ought to listen.
06:36And when they chant death to America or death to Israel, if they got that nuclear weapon,
06:40history tells us they might use it.
06:42Well, Hitler said he was going to kill the Jewish, and he was going to try to eliminate
06:45the Jewish population and Jews from the face of the world.
06:49Nobody really believes him, but he truly tried to do that.
06:51So when somebody tells me for 47 years that they want to kill us, I think I'm going to
06:56take them at the word.
06:57And so would you also agree that now another goal of ours is to make sure that Iran never
07:07blockades the Strait of Hormuz, never has control of the Strait of Hormuz?
07:11Would that be an objective of ours?
07:14What they're doing right now is effectively piracy.
07:17It's terrorism.
07:18It's threatening international shipping.
07:20And our blockade is signaling to the world that we actually control that Strait, and I
07:24would ask this committee, what would this effort look like if Iran had nuclear weapons?
07:30Imagine if not Iran had nuclear capabilities, what they would do to wield over any advantage
07:34they have, from proxies to funding international terrorism.
07:38Mr. Secretary, also, not only would they do that, but imagine if we had not become energy
07:43independent.
07:45Under the previous administration, they were hampering our ability to be energy independent
07:50under the guise of, you know, the Green New Deal, which is insanity, by the way.
07:55I'm going to go back a little bit in history.
07:58We were bombed.
07:59Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941.
08:04Do you know how long it took for the United States to have its first major victory in World
08:08War II?
08:09In the Pacific Theater?
08:12A number of years.
08:12No, it was actually six months.
08:15It was the Battle of Midway, all right?
08:18It was the turning point of World War II.
08:20Could you imagine if we had had the same Democrats asking then Secretary of War, all right, gee,
08:27it's been months, okay?
08:29And we haven't won this war yet, back then.
08:33We didn't even have, we didn't win a major battle for six months.
08:37It's your job, the job of the military, what you've done in the first two months is extraordinary.
08:42And so, again, for my, one, a couple of final questions.
08:45Do you know how much money we spent on Ukraine?
08:50Helping Ukraine?
08:50On the previous administration?
08:52No, right now, up to now.
08:53Up to, upwards of 300 billion?
08:55You're probably, you're probably right, about 300 billion dollars.
08:57And yet I don't hear anything about, you know, gee, how much money have we spent on Ukraine
09:01from the other side?
09:02The difference between them and me is this.
09:05I support the United States and their efforts to help Ukraine against a dictatorial, aggressive
09:15power like Russia, which is our second greatest adversary.
09:18But I also support our efforts to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.
09:24And so you'll always have my support.
09:26And I'm pretty, I'm pretty consistent in that.
09:28I also support our efforts in what we did in Venezuela.
09:31We still have to go a little bit further because that remnants of that regime are still there.
09:36And we need to provide freedom for the people of Venezuela.
09:40And also, one thing, for me, I guess what I'm looking for in this war with Iran is to make
09:45sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, that we have established an inspection protocol
09:52to make sure they never get a nuclear weapon and that we control the strait.
09:56And they never can control the strait.
09:58And as long as time has expired.
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