Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lost his cool under intense questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren over allegations that Trump administration officials may have engaged in insider trading during the Iran war.
The former Fox & Friends Weekend host, 45, was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a second day on Thursday, in what marked the first public congressional hearings since the Iran war began.
“Someone is profiting off Trump’s war—insiders who know what’s going on and who place bets on that inside information,” Warren began.
The Massachusetts Democrat, 76, went on to describe three occasions during the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28, where traders “suddenly bet” $500 million on the price of oil. The flurry of trading activity happened on March 23, before a Trump social media post about “very good conversations” on ending his war with Iran, and again on April 7, and on April 21, she said.
“It looks like insiders have been making out like bandits by using secret information about the war,” the senator said.
It’s “not something we’re involved in,” Hegseth fired back.
Warren asked the defense secretary if he had “any other explanation other than insider trading.”
“Do you have a story for why, just minutes before there’s an announcement, there’s a surge in trading activity?” she pressed.
Hegseth deflected by talking about the military operation in the Middle East, saying he is “more than focused on doing my job and ensuring we execute properly.”
“Thankfully, under this administration, our troops have done incredible things in all these missions. My job, in all of those moments, is to make sure we’re prepared,” he responded. “And that’s part of the reason why we’ve been so successful in these raids, in these efforts, is that this joint force is prepared.”
Warren also brought up a Financial Times report that Hegseth’s broker attempted to invest millions in defense industry stocks before the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran.
It is against the law for Hegseth to purchase shares in the top 10 defense contracting companies. Hegseth has also pledged to personally approve any investments related to the defense industry under his ethics agreement.
Hegseth denied wrongdoing and insisted the report was inaccurate.
“That entire story is false!” the Pentagon chief yelled. “[It] has been from the beginning and was made up out of whole cloth. And anybody that looks at it sees how it was worded from the beginning to make it look like I was involved in something I had nothing to do and never have.”
Hegseth talked over Warren as she tried to respond, saying: “So any insinuation that I’ve ever profited other than serving this nation, what I give, what you give, what others give. 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. And that’s part of the reason why I’m able to be effective in this job, because no one owns me.”
“No one owns this department, no one owns this president. And we can execute for the American people. And we do,” the defense secretary added.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
Hegseth, in his opening remarks on Thursday, slammed “naysayers” who have been critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran.
“The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said.
A fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is in place, and the two nations are in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which about a fifth of global oil supplies normally flow.
Tehran has offered to reopen the strait in exchange for Washington lifting its blockade on the country and shifting negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, noting that the president “seems unlikely to accept the offer.”
