The Trump Administration’s refusal to articulate an end state surfaced repeatedly. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Hegseth how long the war would continue. “As you know and as the President has stated, you would never tell your adversary,” Hegseth said, arguing that disclosing timelines would aid Iran, an answer that did little to satisfy lawmakers.
Other Democrats focused on operational controversies. Smith sharply criticized the Pentagon’s handling of a strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed children, saying the Administration’s lack of transparency around the incident created the impression that “we just don’t care.”
“We made a mistake, and that happens in war,” Smith said. “Yet, two months after it happened, we refused to say anything about it.” Hegseth insisted the strike remained under investigation.
Democratic Reps. Pat Ryan of New York and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania pressed Hegseth over force protection failures after a deadly attack against U.S. troops in Kuwait, citing concerns from survivors that the Pentagon was minimizing what happened. Hegseth insisted commanders had done “every conceivable thing” to protect troops and said casualties were a tragic reality of war.
