MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell delivered a blistering critique of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on The Last Word Thursday night, tearing into Hegseth’s recent comments on U.S. military action in Iran and accusing him of telling what he called “the stupidest public lie ever told.”
O’Donnell was reacting to Hegseth’s remarks during an 8 a.m. press conference, where the former Fox News host lashed out at the press, claiming, “You cheer against Trump so hard; it’s like in your DNA and in your blood… that you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes.”
Hegseth was referring to the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, which he described as “the most complex and secretive military operation in history,” crediting President Trump for directing the mission.
O’Donnell didn’t hold back. “That is the kind of thing you’d expect him to say if he were still on Fox News and half-drunk in a hotel bar,” he said. “But he’s not. He’s the Secretary of Defense.”
The MSNBC host took further aim, referencing past reports about Hegseth’s alleged alcohol use during his time at Fox. “Pete Hegseth was reported to have had such a severe drinking problem while working weekends at Fox that he had to promise Republican senators he wouldn’t drink if confirmed as Defense Secretary,” O’Donnell claimed.
O’Donnell then compared Hegseth’s press conference comments to something out of Drunk History, a show that humorously reenacts historical events with narrators who are, by design, heavily intoxicated.
He continued, “This wasn’t just a lie. It was a lie so absurd it collapses under its own weight the moment it’s said. Trump didn’t direct some ultra-secret plan. He gave the green light to an operation that had been on the books for years.”
While acknowledging that other defense secretaries — especially during the Vietnam War — made damaging and deceptive statements, O’Donnell insisted, “Those lies weren’t immediately disprovable in real time. This was.”
The broadcast also resurfaced a Trump administration denial of earlier reports from The New Yorker alleging Hegseth drank on the job. “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false,” the statement read. “Anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening.”
O’Donnell ended his segment with one more jab: “Pete Hegseth may have promised he’d stop drinking — but clearly, he never promised to stop sounding drunk.”
The clash comes amid heightened tensions over the U.S. military’s recent strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, and raises new questions about the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration’s top defense officials.
