Marty and Congressman Deluzio on the U.S. Secretary of War

Listeners, I want to tell you about a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore, where people tell interesting stories about their family history and then we investigate the truth behind them. Family lore is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Chris Deluzio triggered Peg Seth yesterday. Play a couple of those clips. This is... Chris Deluzio hit some home runs for us yesterday, folks, courageously took on one of the most annoying people I've ever seen in my life. Pete Hegseth, listen. Understood, General. Secretary, let me give you a chance, and you've asked about this earlier. You said in, I think, your press conference, essentially, and I'll quote you here, no quarter, no mercy for our enemies. That's the end of the quote. Is your guidance that you expect our troops in arms way if there's a foreign enemy surrendering, laying down their arms, they're supposed to provide no quarter and kill them? You denied it, but you were indeed trying to take the chairman to a partisan place. That was General Millie. That was the previous administration which played politics. We don't play that way. It's a simple question. I'm asking you what you met. We fight to win, and we ensure the rules of engagements are such that our troops have every authority possible to be. I'll give you another chance. In saying that, are you trying to tell commanders that that's what you expect? You're in the chain of command. It's a simple question. I understand that. My commanders know exactly what the guidance is with each and every mission and they know every tool. Secretary, in your exposing to answer it, I think you speak volumes. I think that's a dangerous thing. We all know the expectations. We know the law of war. We know what is lawful. I'd expect our commanders understand that as well. I yield back, Mr. Chairman yields back. Second clip, please play it. was our concern that something- I'm going to pause you there. I'm going to give you a chance. You're disparaging me that I don't care. I'm asking you whether you think they're liars or not. You and you are disparaging me that I don't care about the passing of our troops. Nope. I asked you thought they're liars. That's disparaging and smearing in every way. Nobody cares more about the fate of our troops. Nobody cares about the health of our troops. Nobody wants to bring them all hope more than I. Mr. Secretary, I understand, but he controls the time. He controls the time. You could control your answer. And the gentleman's right. If we're allowed to answer. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Secretary, my question was clear whether you thought they were liars or not. You don't seem to want to answer it. We can move on. Nailed him. Chris Deluzio joins us. Congressman, good morning, sir. Good morning, Marty. I'm just off the floor of the house. Good to be on with you today. He was calling him liars, inferring that the troops who were injured in these bombings in Iran said they had no defense. And all he wanted to do was explode and implode and attack. He did not want to tell the truth, did he, sir? No, and Marty, I asked some basic questions, like, look, these troops are willing to risk their careers, talk to the press and say they were left defenseless. And his press secretary called them essentially liars, said that was untrue. And I said, to beat out, that's like, look, the secretary, I'm giving you a chance. Are you calling our troops liars who were wounded or not?

And he couldn't answer the question and just attacked and attacked. And it's a lame empathetic thing when you've got Americans who were wounded and saw their battle buddies die because they were left defenseless. That's what troubles me, sir, because they, you have Ryan's clip set up? You have it set up? Play it. I know Chris has heard this, but he's got to hear this. Listen. Maximize across the theater. Let's talk about what defense does they have. Prior to the attack, officers on the ground knew our troops were vulnerable. In fact, they requested additional force protection. Did they receive it? Wherever humanly possible, force protection and counter UAS was always made available. They did not. Wow. In fact, when asked to describe the base's defense, one survivor who's come forward from the unit said, quote, I mean, I would put it in the none category from a drone defense capability, none. So let's be clear, no counter drone capabilities, no counter rocket system. Pause that real quick. Congressman, what he's saying and what you were saying is that our men and women were left to die with no defense, sir. Is that fair? That's exactly what the troops were wounded who spoke out for terrorists, and I believe them. for the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth said here, to just, you heard him. I mean, he just screamed and yelled and hollered and wouldn't answer it. It's just pathetic. And I come back to this, Marty. This should not be a party politics thing. You send someone to Congress, you should expect they demand that our troops are protected when we send them to fight. I don't think they should have been sent the fight. But, man, I'm not going to hold back for a second when it comes to making sure that our military is doing what's right to protect those troops when you put them in arms way. Play this program happen here. Go ahead, play the rest, please, Travis. No countermortar or counter artillery. Not even the basic overhead protection that you and I had 20 years ago in Iraq, and now six of our soldiers are dead. The next day, you downplayed the attack. You said it was a squirder that squeaked through fortified defenses. Wow. But since then, thankfully, brave survivors have come forward to set the record straight. One of our surviving soldiers told CBS, quote, painting a picture that one squeaked through is a falsehood. How We Made Your Mother is a rewatch podcast that looks back episode by episode at the hit TV show, How I Met Your Mother. It's hosted by me, Josh Radner, along with series co-creator and my friend Craig Thomas. Follow How We Made Your Mother wherever you get your podcasts. Another said the unit was, quote, unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position. Another survivor said the building's protection was about as weak as one gets. Secretary Pete Hegseth, that is obviously in direct contradiction to what you said from the Pentagon podium the next day. So are you saying that these soldiers, our soldiers who survived this horrific attack are lying?

What I'm saying is before the commencement of the conflict, we put in maximum defensive posture. We could. That's a direct conversation to what they said. In this directing, can I speak or are you just got a monologue falsehoods all over the place? It's not a falsehood. We move 7,500 troops off of the X based on the intel. Stop. Based on the intel. Stop. Reclaiming my time. Because you yell doesn't make you right. Are you calling? Just because you yell doesn't make you right. I'm blaming my time on behalf of these survivors. Pause right now. You just said what they said. Congressman Chris Deluzio, he has witness accounts verbatim. And Pete Hegseth is saying they're lying. It's disgusting. Is it not, sir? It's disgusting. It's exactly it. And again, this is something that goes to the heart of what we are supposed to do in Congress to have oversight of our military to stand up for our troops. And I pressed Secretary. I said, look, you said and your spokesperson said you did every possible thing, every possible measure, I think was in the quote. And there was nothing, nothing done to fortify that position against overhead drone strike, which was the known threat. And he wouldn't answer it. He wouldn't say that wasn't true. He wouldn't say anything other than just backing himself up into a corner. And look, again, this is not politics. This is about making sure our troops are protected and not put at risk where they don't have to be. And it's not happening here. And again, you don't have to believe me or Congressman Ryan or anybody else. The soldiers who survived the attack were willing to talk to the press and risk their careers. That tells you something. He's calling them liars, sir. He won't say it outright, but that's what he's doing, and that's what the spokesman did. Jesus. As a veteran, and Ryan's a veteran, too, this has to sting for you, sir, doesn't it? It does. And look, Marty, it comes back to we're supposed to look out for our troops. You know, Pat Ryan, the Congressman from New York, is a friend of mine. You know, he and I are veterans of the Middle East Wars. I heard in Iraq. You remember in those early parts of the year, the early years of the war, they were sending soldiers, Marines, and others into harm's way without adequate body armor, without adequate armor on the vehicles and the Humvees, that Congress is supposed to do something about that. That's our job. And I don't think it's that political. I think it's the fundamental responsibility we have to look out for our troops. If he's lying about this attack that resulted in the deaths of Americans, how the hell can we trust him on anything, sir? How? Look, I don't think it's a small thing to say it, but I've said it for a while. We shouldn't be trusting him. We saw him put... Americans in harm's way and risk when he leaked onto a signal chain with a reporter real-time airstrike news. It's been a culture of punishments and vendettas and recklessness of firing senior officers without explaining it. Look, his leadership of the Pentagon has failed, and the president and I have plenty of disagreements, but I think this president needs a better Secretary of Defense. Pete Hegseth's not up to this job. Should he resign, sir?

He should. If he won't the President's firearm, and if it requires Congress to act, we should act. But we need someone in that position who's... By the way, Marty, your listeners know. The Secretary of Defense is in the chain of command. He is between the President and all of the four-star combatant commanders. He has a major role to play on the execution of orders from the President and whatever our troops are sent to do. Congressman, this scares me. Does it scare you, sir? It does. Look, I think we have the most competent military in the world. There are things that our military can do that no one else can do. Their tactical prowess is second to none, but you don't squander that skill and that patriotism. And I think they're being led poorly by the Secretary of Defense. Big picture of this lie that this war is over, it's the biggest crock of crap I've ever heard. It's not even close. In the highest price of oil since 2022, sir, headed for disaster, isn't it? I'm in Washington today and heading home, hopefully, sometime soon, but I check the numbers every day if I'm not home, north of 435 a gallon in both Allegheny and Dever County. Highest price since the war started, and this is absolutely because of this war. The president started the war. Oil is not going through the straight of war moves, which is affecting oil markets, and we are paying for it right here, Western Pennsylvania. I've interviewed a thousand people, a thousand people every year, and I meet a lot of jagoffs. And Hank Seth comes off as an arrogant, pompous jagoff. Is that accurate, sir? That may be too nice. You know, because sometimes we lovingly call people jaggoffs. That may be a little too nice. And look, I shouldn't joke about it because lives aren't stake. And part of what folks heard me in that hearing do, was digging into something that was life or death. And those are mistakes in this. And they wouldn't acknowledge that an errant missile killed well over 150 kids. They wouldn't acknowledge it. Still. It's, look, part of America's leadership in the world and our power is also our moral strength, right? That we do what's right and we earn up when mistakes happen. it further diminishes America standing when you can't take responsibility when you scoot up. And when you just do the bluster and the screaming and the line and the counterpunching, man, just take some accountability, home your mistakes. Congressman Chris Deluzio, I appreciate you stepping off the floor in doing this, sir. Truth to power, my man. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thanks, Marty. I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Crime News, the podcast. Every week we bring you in-depth coverage on cases making headlines, as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery seeking exploration, and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice. Crime never stops, and neither do we. Listen to True Crime News available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your... podcasts.