Fox News host Brit Hume may be a longtime colleague of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (who was a former part-time weekend host on the network), but that didn't stop him from taking a jab at President Donald Trump's top military official.

On Monday, as blowback continues to escalate in response to a Washington Post report about Hegseth supposedly ordering that two survivors of a destroyed boat be killed, Hegseth posted a statement to his official X account that appeared to praise Admiral Frank M. Bradley. While the Post's sources said Hegseth gave the order to "kill everybody," the White House clarified that Adm. Bradley — the commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) — is the one who actually approved the secondary strike on September 2, 2025 that killed the two survivors.

"Let’s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100 percent support," Hegseth posted. "I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since. America is fortunate to have such men protecting us."

The statement was almost immediately scrutinized by various journalists, experts and commentators, including Hume. The conservative network's chief political analyst quote-posted Hegseth and argued the defense secretary was demonstrating "how to point the finger at someone while pretending to support him."

Atlantic contributor Tom Nichols — who is also a retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College — also piled on, tweeting: "'Let's make one thing crystal clear: That guy over there is the guy you want.'"

Former Fox News, CNN and MSNBC journalist David Shuster accused Hegseth of "stabbing the admiral in the back," and suggested the Pentagon leader "try taking some responsibility." Vinny Green, who is the former chief operating officer of fact-checking website Snopes, responded to Hegseth's post with a GIF of South Park character Eric Cartman getting thrown under a bus.

"Wow. You cook up a cruel and ineffective strategy based on illegal extrajudicial killings (i.e. murder), force the military to carry it out based on a nonsensical [White House] legal interpretation, then throw the commander under the bus at the first blowback. Incredible," wrote Max Hoffman, who is a foreign policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web