"The ranking Democrat, Adam Smith of Washington, instead questioned whether the 50-60% spending increase would be responsibly managed – “we have every reason to doubt that”, he said – and challenged the administration over the diplomatic isolation in which the war was being fought.

“We’re doing this on our own, as we increasingly push away all our allies, sometimes just gratuitously insulting them,” Smith said. “In the middle of this war where we’re asking Nato to come join us, the president took time to insult President Macron [of France] and his wife. How is that helping us?”

Smith also raised the strike on a school in the Iranian city of Minab during the opening phase of the joint US-Israeli campaign, in which Iranian officials say at least 168 people were killed, most of them children. The Pentagon had said in those early days that the attack was under investigation, though until today Hegseth and Caine have not been required to address it under oath.

“We made a mistake and that happens in war,” Smith said. “Two months after it happened, we refused to say anything about it, giving the world the impression that we just don’t care.”

There was also a tense exchange between Hegseth and Smith later in the hearing, when Hegseth declared that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “obliterated”.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. We had to start this war, you just said, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying it was completely obliterated?” Smith asked. When Hegseth replied that Iran had not abandoned its nuclear ambitions, Smith pressed on: “So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance.”

“You’re missing the point,” Hegseth said." —The Guardian