Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Sunday dodged questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as other Republicans voice concerns over the Iran war and senior Defense staff turnover. NBC News's Kristen Welker asked the senator on "Meet the Press" if he still had confidence in Hegseth.
Page A5From§Eachthe late evening edition — 6 September 2026
Senators won't say they trust Hegseth; the committee overseeing him still isn't briefed on his leak probe.
As it ran on the front
Sen. John Kennedy was asked plainly whether he still has confidence in his own party's Defense Secretary. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Kristen Welker put the question to him directly. Kennedy's answer: "it's not my place to have confidence in him." That is a sitting senator, on national television, declining to say he trusts the man who runs the Pentagon.
Eight days earlier, on Aug. 29, The Hill reported that Hegseth had personally blocked the promotions of four Army officers, some of whom have ties to generals he had already fired. On Sept. 2, Sen. Thom Tillis went further, saying "I have never witnessed more inept management" and calling on the President to fire him — a line Tillis could afford because he isn't running for reelection. By Sept. 3, The Hill was reporting Hegseth was "headed for clash with GOP senators" over staff turnover and a war in Iran with no stated end.…
…(cont) Then came Cait Conley, a 16-year Army veteran running against Rep. Mike Lawler, who told Fox News she would vote for articles of impeachment against Hegseth and called him a national-security "hazard." A challenger running against a sitting House member said, plainly, what the sitting senator would only decline to answer.
And on that same Sunday, Rep. Jason Crow — who sits on both House Intelligence and House Armed Services — said Congress still hasn't been briefed on a Pentagon leak investigation that Hegseth himself is running. Crow called it "part of his effort to create fear and clamp down on information coming out of the Pentagon." The man running an inquiry into who's talking has not told the committee built to watch him what the inquiry actually is.
Line up the receipts: a senator who won't vouch for him, an Army secretary who quit, another senator calling the management the worst he's seen, four blocked promotions with an asterisk attached, a challenger willing to say "hazard" and "impeachment" out loud, and an intelligence committee still waiting on a briefing about the one investigation Hegseth controls himself. Every quote in this pile is public record. The thing all those quotes are circling is not.
That's not a hearing. That's a waiting room with better lighting, and Congress is still holding the number they were given at the door.
“A senator who won't vouch for his own party's Defense Secretary, an Army secretary who quit, and an intelligence committee that still can't get briefed on his own leak probe — that's not a personnel dispute, that's a locked door with a badge on it. When even his own party starts hedging out loud, the bill for whatever's behind that door is coming, and it's not landing on the part of the Pentagon budget the public gets to see.”
“Look, a senator saying it's not his place to have confidence in the Secretary — that's just respecting the chain of command, that's not a — okay, it's a shrug, but a respectful one. And Congress not getting briefed on an internal Pentagon leak investigation, that's just how internal investigations work, they stay internal, that's — wait, did I just defend keeping an investigation into leaks a secret? That's not what I meant.”
The receipts
Rep. Jason Crow, who sits on both the House Intelligence and the House Armed Services Committees, told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that Congress has not been briefed on a Pentagon leak investigation helmed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He added that the investigation is "part of his effort to create fear and clamp down…
Cait Conley, a 16-year Army veteran challenging Rep. Mike Lawler, says she would vote for articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon.
· Hegseth allies believe he and Driscoll were not aligned on ‘radical transformation’ of Pentagon’s culture from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Tillis renews calls for Hegseth’s firing after Driscoll’s departure: ‘I have never witnessed more inept management’ from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Tillis urges Trump to fire Hegseth over 'inept management' of military from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Hegseth blocks promotions of 4 Army officers with ties to sacked generals from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· Hegseth headed for clash with GOP senators as frustrations grow from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.