‘Get The Hell Out Of Pentagon’: Carbajal Launches Unfiltered, Blistering Attack on War Chief Hegseth

Thank you, Elaine. And thank you, Congressman Deluzio, for bringing us today on this very important day to celebrate Veterans Day. It's shameful all the cuts to benefits to our veterans that our colleagues across the aisle are implementing. It's shameful all the things that Secretary Hegseth has been doing to wreck the morale and actually make us less ready as a This week, Republicans killed a vote to proceed on impeaching Hegseth, choosing to protect him over our service members. The American people sent a strong message during last week's election. They are fed up with this administration's incompetence, chaos, and abuse of power. Hegseth and Trump led our country into a reckless and illegal war in Iran that has been raging for over 250 days. Two hundred and fifty days. Inflicting a massive human toll and financial toll on our armed services. Beyond the war, there is a long list of reasons why Hegseth must go. His extrajudicial killings, ignoring congressional oversight, leaking sensitive military operations, remember Signalgate, and much, much more. I could go on, but in closing, I have to say, I said it before and I will say it again, Hegseth, get the hell out. Get the hell out of the Pentagon. You're incompetent now, and you were incompetent then. Our service members, veterans, military families, and the American people deserve better, better leadership of the Department of Defense. With that, I'd like to now introduce Chrissy Hulahan, our colleague from Pennsylvania. Good afternoon everybody and a happy Veterans Day to you all. I am torn right now whether to say that I am indeed a happy veteran or am I indeed an angry veteran and I think I can hold both feelings in my body at the same time. What just went down on the house floor is truly inexcusable and there will be accountability for it. But I am a happy veteran because look at this, we've worked so hard. to make this happen and I'm so excited to be joined by so many other fellow veterans here in Congress in the next couple of weeks and this group is together here today to have a single message delivered back to you the citizenry. We heard the message from you the citizens that we need to do better, we need to do better by you as citizens, we need to do better by the veterans, we need to do better by our allies. By our service members, and that starts by getting Secretary Hegseth out of the Pentagon, out. Secretary Hegseth's leadership has weakened and isolated our country. It's caused our allies to lose faith in us. It's deprived our service members of qualified leadership and subjected all of us to the consequences of this unlawful war. The consequences that many of my colleagues are highlighting and I'm certain will continue to highlight and the consequences that will be felt as long as he continues to lead the DOD or DOW or DO whatever. The DOD is the DOD because it's the Department of Defense. It's the last thing we do, not the first thing we do. Our troops and their families serve their country with more dignity, with more strength and more patriotism and skill than Secretary Hegseth has ever been capable of. And I have and will continue to call for his resignation, for his impeachment, for whatever it takes to have him leave the Pentagon because of how much I and I know my colleagues respect our service members. Last night on the eve of Veterans Day, 211 House Republicans blocked a vote to impeach him. And so they didn't just vote against impeachment. They voted to shut down the entire debate before it even began. And this refusal to acknowledge, debate or even consider taking action to hasten the war's end and remove Hegseth and his poisonous ideology is exactly the behavior that Americans literally just rejected a week ago, loudly and clearly. So last night's attempt to impose accountability fell short, and this is not the end of our fight. We will continue to fight because it's the right thing for our troops. It's the right thing for our military families. It's the right thing for our country. And there are more of us now, thankfully, than there were before. Fresh legs, dare I say, and we're never going to back down from this fight for the country that we all love and that we all serve. And thank you. It's now my pleasure to introduce a Navy veteran From Kentucky's 6th Congressional District, Congressman-elect Zach Dembeault. Good afternoon and happy Veterans Day. As Congresswoman Hulahan indicated, I had the honor of serving on active duty in the United States Navy. As we're analyzing what happened in this election, you all may know I was elected in a district that voted for the president by 15 points in 2024. And last Tuesday, I won by 10 points. And when we're trying to figure out what made the American people make decisions like that, one of the things has to be that from the beginning as a veteran, as a former prosecutor, and as a teacher, I emphasized my public service and that politics should never be inserted into spaces like the Pentagon or like the Department of Justice. I'm honored to be joining these amazing members as well as these members elect. From the beginning I have said we have got to get out of this senseless war in Iran and those electoral results in Kentucky, which some people mistakenly call red, but really it's just a common sense group of folks, show that the American people agree and certainly the people of the sixth district of Kentucky agree. So I am excited to get to work. I think there is a lot of work to be done in terms of getting politics out of these spaces and making sure that American service members as well as veterans are respected and honored for their service. I'm excited to be among so many fellow veterans, including importantly so many amazing women veterans coming in. And on that note, I'm proud to turn it over to my incoming colleague, Christina Knickerbocker, from Ohio. Thank you. We have very brave men and women that have served our country. I'm Christina Knickerbocker, and I'm an Air Force veteran that served at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for a decade. As a nurse and nurse practitioner, I am the one who takes care of our active duty and our veterans. The vote made today Take Care of Veterans Act does not take care of our veterans. The people that voted have no idea what our veterans need. It is me on the front lines and my fellow medics who are taking care of our troops. We have disrupted money that is supposed to flow to our veterans to provide them resources that they deserved and worked for. In this upcoming 120th Congress, we have a duty as veterans to protect veterans and those that serve our country. We must get Pete Headsets out of office. He is not only threatening our national security, he is threatening the lives of my friends in the military. My friends who served with me just in 2025, they are going overseas. I will work my hardest to protect them and make sure that our country respects and defends our veterans. My friend, Congressman Derek Tran, a fellow Army vet, thank you. Happy Veterans Day. I'm Congressman Derek Tran, proudly serving the people of California's 45th Congressional District. I'm so excited that so many of my new colleagues in Congress were my brothers and sisters in uniform. To the veterans standing alongside me today, welcome. I'm excited to embark on this journey with you. My military started at 18 when I marched into the Army Recruiter's Office demanding to enlist. Choosing to serve my country was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And it ingrained in me an undying patriotism that has inspired me to continue my service in Congress. As we welcome you, we also mark the start of a new chapter. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update. Download the OneIndia app now.