MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” fact-checked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Wednesday, refuting his latest claims about the September boat strike that has the Trump administration under suspicion of potentially committing war crimes against the attack’s shipwrecked, helpless survivors.
Hegseth claimed Tuesday during a press conference with President Trump that he only personally watched the first strike against the boat. Hegseth said he learned about the additional strikes afterward and refuted reports that his Department of Defense knowingly killed helpless survivors, arguing that the fire and smoke from the boat’s first hit created a “fog of war.”
“You weren’t talking about the fog of war the morning after this happened,” “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said in response, teeing up a clip of Hegseth saying on the Sept. 3 edition of “Fox & Friends” that the Trump administration knew “exactly” who was on the boat and “exactly” what they were doing.
“There was no fog of war. You were in complete command. You were in complete charge. You knew exactly who was on that boat. You knew exactly when that boat was fired upon. You knew everything, Mr. Secretary, about what happened that day,” Scarborough continued. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, there’s a fog of war. Oh, were people hanging on? And did I commit war crimes? I’m not sure!’”
You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself in the video below.
“Since he knew exactly what was going on, he will know, as the Washington Post reported, the boat was not hit once. It was not hit twice. It was not hit three times. It was hit four times,” Scarborough added, before pushing back on Hegseth’s claim that he left after watching just the first strike on the boat in question.
“Are you telling me there was a first strike and then you said, ‘I’m going to go up to my office and play Parcheesi. I’m bored with this?’” an incredulous Scarborough asked. “No, you stayed there for the four strikes. You know you did.”
“There has been the belief among many people in the White House and on Capitol Hill that Pete Hegseth’s just not a serious man,” the “Morning Joe” anchor added. “You can see in the reaction, whether he’s posting cartoons the night after the Post story comes out suggesting that he could be a war criminal [or] you can see him changing his story every day in ways that Republican senators are calling out.”
Ultimately, Scarborough warned that the criticisms of Hegseth are likely not going to lighten up anytime soon. “This is not going to get any easier for him,” the “Morning Joe” host concluded.
