Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke with Maria Bartiromo over the weekend about several issues, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling him and other Trump appointees “Dumb Effing Individuals” — a play on the DEI acronym.
Jeffries criticized Hegseth’s instruction to purge the U.S. Naval Academy’s library of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-related content.
He vowed to keep pressure on “extremists” behind the move.
Watch Jeffries’ video below:
The outrageous Naval Academy book ban targets Maya Angelou and the Holocaust, but excludes Adolf Hitler.
This must be reversed immediately. pic.twitter.com/5jZ8Z3F3iG
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) April 12, 2025
“That’s how far they have fallen. It’s astonishing, not surprising,” Hegseth told Fox News’ Bartiromo.
“Of course, they don’t like the fact that we’re ripping DEI out of the military and making it colorblind and merit-based.”
“If their whole strategy is… minute-long videos on TikTok to call us names while we secure the southern border, kick out Chinese influence, revive the warrior culture inside our military, that’s why they lost in a historic fashion to President Trump last time, and their future looks bleak as well.”
Watch Hegseth’s response above.
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