Comedian Bill Maher recently bashed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, calling him the “worst thing to hit the Pentagon” since the September 11 terrorist attack.
Maher delivered his hit against Hegseth during his “New Rule” segment on Friday night’s episode of his HBO show.
“New Rule: Pete Hegsteth’s parents have to take away his phone. He can have it back when he’s shown us he’s grown up enough to use it responsibly,” Maher said.
“I’m not saying Pete makes a terrible defense secretary, but he’s the worst thing to hit the Pentagon since Flight 77,” he added.
Bill Maher’s joke referenced the time National Security Adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a group Signal chat wherein Hegseth and other members of the Trump administration discussed sensitive details about U.S. military strikes in Yemen. Weeks later, another report alleged that Hegseth created a Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother, granting them access to sensitive military discussions.
The Trump White House expressed support for Hegseth through both reports, per the Associated Press:
The White House expressed support Monday for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following media reports that he shared sensitive military details in another Signal messaging chat, this time with his wife and brother.
Neither the White House nor Hegseth denied that he had shared such information in a second chat, instead focusing their responses on what they called the disgruntled workers whom they blamed for leaking to the media and insisting that no classified information had been disclosed.
“It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories,” President Donald Trump told reporters. “I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. So you don’t always have friends when you do that,” Trump said.
Speaking with Fox News, Pete Hegseth said the reports were the result of enemies seeking to undermine President Trump’s agenda.
“I’m here because President Trump asked me to bring warfighting back to the Pentagon every single day. That is our focus. And if people don’t like it, they can come after me. No worries. I’m standing right here. The warfighters are behind us. Our enemies know they’re on notice. Our allies know we’re behind them. And that, in this dangerous world for the American people, is what it’s all about,” he said.
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