Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Monday became the first Republican member of Congress to openly indicate support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth‘s removal from office.
Why it matters: Hegseth is under fire for a series of scandals including the departures of several of his top officials at the Pentagon and new reporting about his use of Signal to discuss sensitive information.
- Several Pentagon officials who left amid allegations of leaking have in turn publicly criticized the Defense Department.
What he’s saying: “The military should always pride itself on operational security. If the reports are true, the Secretary of Defense has failed at operational security, and that is unacceptable,” Bacon told Axios.
- “If a Democrat did this we’d be demanding a scalp. I don’t like hypocrisy. We should be Americans first when it comes to security,” he added.
- Bacon first made his comments to Politico.
