Democrats says Hegseth lied about second boat strike and 'threw Admiral Bradley under the bus'

Meanwhile, at the Democrats press conference earlier, representative Ted Lieu of California called on Pete Hegseth to resign, saying the defense secretary lied about the second strike on the suspected drug-smuggling boat and “and threw Admiral Bradley under the bus”.

“Killing shipwreck survivors is a war crime,” said Lieu, a former lawyer with the US Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He said there was no statute of limitation on war crimes and the justice department should conduct an investigation and hold everyone accountable.

Hegseth “engaged in dishonorable conduct”, Lieu said, adding: “He is a coward, he must resign, you deserve better.”

Fellow California representative Pete Aguilar reiterated that they feel Hegseth should resign but added that Republicans would never go with impeachment.

“Members of the military need to tell the truth,” he said. “We need a full accounting of what happened on that day with that strike”.