On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that he is calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign but didn’t call for the defense secretary’s resignation over the withdrawal from Afghanistan because “On Afghanistan, there was an endless array of investigations done by Congress, done by the White House, done by DOD, done by all kind[s] of different agencies. There was a clear acknowledgment of that problem and the need to analyze it.”
Host José Díaz-Balart asked, “Congressman, I’m just wondering, as far as consistency across the board, why call for the secretary of defense to resign over this when others did not call for the then-secretary of defense to resign over, for example, what happened in Afghanistan? Where is the difference there?”
Smith answered, “Well, a couple of different reasons: But one of the biggest reasons — and I did not initially call for Secretary Hegseth to resign when this happened — but the biggest reason is no acknowledgment of the problem, as I said. On Afghanistan, there was an endless array of investigations done by Congress, done by the White House, done by DOD, done by all kind[s] of different agencies. There was a clear acknowledgment of that problem and the need to analyze it. What really pushed me over the line was when Secretary Hegseth said, nothing to see here, this is usual. And also the dishonesty, none of this was classified, it wasn’t a war plan. I don’t know if it’s so much dishonesty or hiding behind pathetic semantics. … So, the unwillingness to even address a very serious issue is what has sort of pushed me to that point.”
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