Heat rises on Hegseth ahead of back-to-back hearings 

Republican lawmakers will get their chance to air out frustrations with the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war and a string of high-profile Pentagon firings when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth makes back-to-back public appearances on Capitol Hill this week.

Hegseth will go before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday — his first testimony under oath since the conflict with Tehran began — then in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. He is set to appear along with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine, with the two expected to tout a $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 budget request for the Defense Department.

Lawmakers in both chambers have sounded alarms over Hegseth’s recent ouster of popular Army chief of staff Randy George and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with concerns of a hollowing out of leadership at the Pentagon.

The White House also is facing growing frustrations over its struggles to end the war in Iran and the lack of information about its strategy and costs, with a 60-day deadline to wrap up fighting without congressional approval arriving this week.

“We’re in the middle of a war. We got to know that things are being managed [well],” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said when asked how she felt about George’s firing.

“So, not good,” she added. 

“He has separated some of the most extraordinary generals that we’ve had in play. I don’t quite know what’s going on there,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told The Hill of Hegseth’s leadership earlier this week.

Hegseth’s growing tensions with Army Secretary Dan........

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