Pete Hegseth Spirals Over Own Testimony About U.S. Weapons Stockpiles

The Trump administration’s narrative on the Iran war is changing by the day.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was caught in his own lie by CBS News’s Margaret Brennan, who reminded him Sunday that America’s depleted missile stockpile was not a media fabrication but actually a material reality that he testified to before Congress.

“​​Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy was on this program a few weeks ago,” Brennan said. “He made a plea, not just for more interceptors, but for the ability to produce them, for friendly governments to be able to produce Patriots. Some Republican lawmakers support this idea. Do you?”

“Nobody makes better and more munitions than the United States of America, and we are open to co-production wherever we can,” Hegseth said.

“And because of this administration, we’re supercharging our arsenal of freedom, building more, building faster, opening up the Pentagon, ripping through the Pentagon bureaucracy to force industry to move faster so—” the secretary added before Brennan interjected.

“But there is a crisis with those stockpiles right now?” pressed Brennan. “There is a crisis with those stockpiles right now in private industry. You have testified to it in front of Congress.”

“No there’s not,” Hegseth replied. “That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle. And ultimately, we are, our stockpiles are great, and they’ll only get stronger,” he continued, before Brennan pressed again that Hegseth had testified under oath that it would take years to rebuild U.S. munitions stockpiles.

“You don’t have to read back to me what I testified, I speculated some munitions take more time than others,” Hegseth said. “We’ve got lots of them, we’re building more than ever before. The Biden administration gave away hundreds of billions to Ukraine, and so President Trump had to refill, and he has, and we have in real time.”

“So, the answer to Zelenskiy’s request is a no or a yes?” asked Brennan, regarding Ukraine’s ability to produce Patriot systems.

But Hegseth dodged the question.

“Ultimately, we’ve worked with them, and Ukraine is buying munitions that Europe pays for, and it’s great to see Europe finally step up and pay for those,” he responded.

Mere days into the Iran war, Hegseth appeared before U.S. lawmakers alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine in a closed-door meeting that reportedly discussed the rapid decline in America’s long-range precision-guided missile supplies.

At the time, the two Defense officials relayed that the U.S. had used a considerable amount of its wildly expensive interceptor missiles to thwart Iran’s seemingly infinite supply of Shahed attack drones.

By late April, the Pentagon had used at least 45 percent of its Precision Strike Missile stockpile, at least half of its THAAD missiles, and nearly 50 percent of its Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The White House has, nonetheless, invariably insisted that U.S. munitions are well stocked.

The strangest storyline emerging from the UFC fights on Sunday night came not from the White House lawn but from a former UFC fighter’s Twitter page. A few hours before the fights, Daniel Cormier, a heavyweight fighter who retired in 2020, posted screenshots of D.M.s between him and Eric Trump, in which the president’s son asks if any of the bouts are going to be rigged so he can bet on them.

“I’m probably going to get a lot of flak for bringing this to light, however I refuse to stay silent,” Cormier wrote. “The UFC is a sport that I am deeply passionate about. I will not tolerate this type of insider behavior. Shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event.”

Cormier quickly deleted the post, but it was captured by many online, including a few journalists. The younger Trump claimed the screenshots were “AI generated,” that he has never spoken to Cormier, and that the fighter deleting his post was proof the messages were “clearly fabricated.” But Trump’s denial raises more questions than it answers. (Trump recently deleted this post as well, while leaving up other vague rebuttals.)

First off, Cormier deleting the post has no bearing on whether the messages are real or not. Using that as an excuse is obviously weak. Trump also insinuated that Cormier was unaware the messages were fake—but the messages included those sent by Cormier, and Cormier himself posted them! So that also doesn’t make much sense.

Cormier intentionally posting fake messages also doesn’t add up. He is currently a UFC commentator, as well as a coach. Fabricating something like this would destroy all his professional credibility and probably get him fired. And for what—to create a minor scandal for Eric Trump that he probably wouldn’t face any repercussions for anyway? The younger Trump is already no stranger to grifting through shady crypto deals.

Cormier has now backtracked and said the messages are fake, as well. “I got hacked or something. Who believes stuff like that? That’s crazy,” he told journalist Nicholas Ballasy while leaving the fight. Here is an excerpt of the private messages Cormier tweeted out. You can come to your own conclusions:

TRUMP: You placing any bets?

CORMIER: Nah I’m actually not allowed to bet on any cards or anything.

TRUMP: Are any of the fighters injured that you know of?

CORMIER: I’m not quite sure why you’re asking me this but I think they’re all in good shape..

TRUMP: I’ll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged? I’ve been eyeing the Lopes fight and I think an upset wouldn’t be too unrealistic. $$

CORMIER: No none of our fights rigged and honestly I am appalled that you would even ask me something like that.

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital Sunday—but his office has provided scant details about what’s going on.

“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” said McConnell adviser David Popp. The statement did not elaborate on his condition, why he had been transported to the hospital, or where he was receiving care.

The 84-year-old Republican has represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate for 41 years, since 1985. He also served as the majority leader of the upper chamber from 2015 to 2021.

These are supposed to be McConnell’s final months in office—he is currently set to retire in January, at the end of his seventh term.

But his determination to remain in play on Capitol Hill has also forced him into the limelight through several critical health scares since 2023. In March of that year, McConnell fell at a dinner event at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, fracturing his rib and suffering a concussion in the process. He fell again in July. He also froze mid-sentence twice that year, dissociating for 20-30 seconds each time, sparking concerns that the aging lawmaker had suffered a stroke.

After assessing McConnell following the freezing bouts, the attending physician at the Capitol declared that he had not suffered from a seizure, stroke, or movement disorder, and the dissociation was more likely tied to the concussion recovery process or possible dehydration.

McConnell fell again in December 2024 at a Senate Republican Conference luncheon, spraining his wrist and cutting his face, and again in October 2025 while on his way to vote in the Capitol. He has since been transported via wheelchair by his aides as a health precaution.

In February, McConnell’s staffers shared that the lawmaker had spent roughly eight days in the hospital for “flu-like symptoms.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth crumbled when he tried to explain the difference between Donald Trump’s new deal with Iran and Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 

Spoiler alert: There is none. 

Speaking on CBS News’s Face the Nation Sunday, Hegseth struggled to justify what the U.S. had actually won after months and months of mass destruction and global economic turmoil.

“The document says Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, won’t seek one, won’t buy one, won’t have one,” Hegseth explained. 

“JCPOA said that too,” host Margaret Brennan pointed out.

Pretty much verbatim, actually. The preface of Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal states: “Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” 

Hegseth scrambled to defend the new deal. 

“But they didn’t have the threat of military force the way that we do that Iran respects in a very—in a way that their regime is more devastated, more devastating, excuse me, more devastated than it’s ever been in its 47 years, and that’s why they’re at the table,” he ranted incoherently. 

“The huge difference is, we did this from a position of strength. President Trump led with military might,” Hegseth added. “That military might will stay as long as necessary.”

But let’s assess that military might, shall we? It will take at least three years and an estimated  $24 billion for the United States to replace the munitions it expended during Trump’s military campaign against Iran. A recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated a multiyear “window of vulnerability” for the United States in potential future conflicts. Hegseth denied that there were any shortages in the U.S. weapons stockpile. 

More to the point, the U.S. has demonstrated our unique powerlessness in the face of a regime that has been reminded it can control the Strait of Hormuz. 

And as for Iran’s regime, it’s far from being “devastated.” Not only was there no regime change, but the regime has arguably gotten even more extreme—and Trump is still ready to hand it billions of dollars.

It’s increasingly apparent that Trump pulled out of the JCPOA only to drag the United States into an expensive war that no one voted for and then walk away with an identical deal. The major difference this time? One $300 billion check for Tehran to rebuild everything Trump destroyed.

Vice President JD Vance all but confirmed a detail being floated as part of the tentative U.S.-Iran peace deal: Iranian access to $300 billion in reconstruction funds.

Vance was asked by CBS’s Ed O’Keefe Monday morning about whether the rumored detail was true, and he said that it could be possible if Iran adheres to the agreement.

“That’s the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf coast coalition, so long as they honor their end of the obligation,” Vance said. He noted that Iranian officials and media would be emphasizing the benefits they receive from the deal as opposed to what they concede.

Vance’s admission contradicts what he said on Friday, when he claimed in an X post that Iran would not be “receiving any cash, and no funds are being released simply for signing a deal or attending a meeting.” In addition to the U.S. and its allies paying $300 billion in reconstruction funds, Iran reports that the U.S. has agreed to release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets.

Conservatives, including Trump and Vance, have long criticized the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear deal, which involved the U.S. lifting sanctions and sending Iran $1.7 billion to settle decades-old failed contracts between the two countries.

That deal was also succeeding, with international observers stating that Iran was adhering to all its nuclear terms. It was Trump who decided to break it in his first term and then start a war with Iran in his second. Now, he’s only pushing a deal because his efforts are failing spectacularly, costing money, innocent lives, and American credibility.