I must confess: I had never heard of Rep. Salud Carbajal. He certainly holds himself in high regard, as he apparently thinks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doesn’t merit his attention.
In yet another display of Democrats appearing somewhat disoriented, the Californian criticized the secretary during a budget hearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. Though Carbajal may have believed he appeared formidable and embarrassed Hegseth, the opposite was true. The congressman came across as a spiteful, unpleasant would-be bully, the kind who would back down if he ever encountered Hegseth outside the political arena.
He began by mentioning the notorious Signal chat incident, where a military conversation among senior administration officials was accidentally shared with a leftist journalist. Carbajal considered the error should be disqualifying, despite the fact that it wasn’t Hegseth who included the journalist in the chat:
“I have called for your resignation. I didn’t think you were qualified before your confirmation, and you have done nothing to inspire confidence in your ability to lead competently.”
“You broke the law in sharing classified information and in doing so, endangered the lives of our service members that you are responsible for,” Carbajal said Thursday. “Your inability to hold yourself accountable makes you incapable to lead. To lead. This alone makes you unfit to be the secretary of Defense.”
What a pleasant guy. Watch:
Democrat Rep. Salud Carbajal throws a temper tantrum after Pete Hegseth refused to engage in his attempted “gotcha” question.
“You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions. You’re unfit to lead… You should just get the hell out.”pic.twitter.com/uJv1760gwd
— MRCTV (@mrctv) June 12, 2025
Note to Carbajal: Hegseth has repeatedly said no classified information was shared, and no one has proven him wrong on that. Facts don’t matter to the congressman, though, because he felt the need to get even nastier. When the defense secretary didn’t answer questions to the little-known rep’s liking, he got personal and completely inappropriate:
“You know what? I’m not going to waste my time anymore,” he said. “You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions. You’re an embarrassment to this country, you’re unfit to lead, and there’s been bipartisan members of Congress that have called for your resignation.”
“You should just get the hell out and let somebody competently lead this department,” he added.
“You’re not worthy of my attention or my questions.” Seriously, who do you think you are, Salud? Hegseth is the United States Secretary of Defense, and you’re not. Frankly, who cares who or what is “worthy of your attention?”
Carbajal wasn’t the only California Democrat to act unhinged on Thursday; as Nick Arama reported earlier, Sen. Alex Padilla barged into a briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acted surprised when security personnel quickly intervened and escorted him out of there. Did he think he could just waltz in unannounced into the briefing of a senior administration official and no one would pay him any attention?
