Pete Hegseth has faced intense criticism over his decision to order the controversial strikes on Venezuelan boats. The vessels, which were allegedly smuggling drugs inside the U.S., were attacked twice, as per his commands, with specific instructions for no survivors. While the immediate response to the decision was critical and experts tagged it as an act of war, it seems Hegseth is still far from getting relief from consistent criticism anytime soon.
Once again, the Caribbean Sea strikes became a topic of discussion between Hegseth and lawmakers. What was supposed to be a usual briefing about the matter to the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee soon turned into a battlefield of words between the Secretary of War (also known as Secretary of Defense) and those attending. Some have questioned the very legal basis for these lethal attacks. However, when it came to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, he, too, had many questions about the very validity of the attack and whether it was justified.
In response, Pete Hegseth dove into a debate between lawful and unlawful orders. According to a report by Punchbowl News, the comment directly referenced an investigation into Kelly’s viral video. The clip allegedly showed that the senator advised troops to disobey unlawful orders made by the department. Naturally, the deflection from the topic taken up by Hegseth was inappropriate to Mark Kelly, and he interrupted the former for discussing the ongoing probe within an altogether different matter.
Democrat Senator Mark Kelly, who told US troops to disobey orders, says destroying narco-terrorist drug boats is “not making us more safe” because the boats are trafficking cocaine, not fentanyl. 🤡pic.twitter.com/MsuJTFBcIg
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 16, 2025
What followed next was a heated exchange of arguments between Kelly and Hegseth. It continued to the extent where the senator had to remind the Secretary of War about one of his own statements against the U.S. President. Kelly reminded Hegseth that in 2016, he had said that Donald Trump would land in huge trouble if he were to order the troops to follow illegal orders.
Later, shedding light on the altercation between the two of them, Mark Kelly spoke about it on CNN. In his words, “It seems like he came there with a little bit of a speech for me, which says, again, a lot about him. Even in this closed briefing with a bunch of senators, he’s focused on this thing about me, and didn’t even want to get to my questions… I think it again shows how unserious this guy is.”
Kelly also spoke about his viral video where he, along with a bunch of other Democrats, participated and encouraged troops to disobey unlawful orders. Well, his statements in the clip were then accused by Trump of treason punishable by death. In defense, the Senator argued that, irrespective of what the U.S. President made people believe about him, he wasn’t going to refrain from criticizing anything that goes out of line within the government.
He said, “People listen to what he says, more so than anybody else in the country. He should be careful with his words, but I’m not going to be silenced here. I’m going to show up for work every day, support the Constitution, do my job, hold this administration accountable, and hold this president accountable when he is out of line. That’s the responsibility of every U.S. Senator and every member of Congress. He’s not going to silence us.”
Tonight, we learned the Pentagon is escalating its review of me into “an official command investigation.”
If Donald Trump or Pete Hegseth think they can stop me from doing my job and serving the American people, they’ve got the wrong guy. pic.twitter.com/wjKVr37vby
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) December 16, 2025
Shortly after the video was released, the Pentagon announced it was escalating its investigations, while the Defense Department tagged it as an action eligible for court-martial proceedings. In response, Kelly had defended the claims while speaking to the press. Back then, he had reiterated that whatever he said was lawful, and in fact, Pete Hegseth was one of the first people who spoke about it at the very beginning.
Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth has maintained his stance of not releasing the full and unedited version of the Venezuelan boat strikes despite popular demand. He had said, “Of course, we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public.”
