CIA chief yells at Democrat for ‘offensive’ suggestion Pete Hegseth was consuming when he texted warfare plans

CIA Director John Ratcliffe fired back that Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez raising Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s ‘drinking habits’ was ‘offensive’ after he was asked about it at a hearing on Wednesday.

It came as the California lawmaker was pressing top Trump security officials about the discussion of Yemen airstrikes in a Signal chat that included a reporter.

‘To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?’ Gomez first asked Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. 

‘I don’t have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits,’ Gabbard responded.

But when he asked Ratcliffe the same question, the CIA director and former GOP congressman shot back angrily.

‘You know, no I’m going to answer that. I think that’s an offensive line of questioning. The answer’s no,’ Ratcliffe said.

The exchange continued to devolve into chaos with the two yelling over each other. 

CIA Director John Ratcliffe fired back that a question from Congressman Jimmy Gomez was ‘offensive’ when he asked about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s drinking habits at hearing

‘You don’t want to focus on the good work that the CIA is doing, the intelligence community,’ Ratcliffe shouted while Gomez tried to reclaim his time. 

‘I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for our men and women in uniform,’ Gomez fired back finally. 

The congressman had noted accusations regarding Hegseth drinking was a topic of concern back when he was confirmed as defense secretary in January. 

Gomez argued his question ‘was on the top of minds of every American’ after it was revealed Hegseth shared war plans on Signal. 

‘He stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink, so of course we want to know if his performance is compromised,’ Gomez said.

Gomez brought up people asking if former Defense Secretary General Lloyd Austin was compromised ‘because of a heart issue.’ 

But he was cut off by Ratcliffe who asked ‘was his performance compromised because of a successful strike?’

The CIA director kept going, lashing out at Gomez ‘you want to talk about accepting responsibility. Do you think you should accept responsibility for a successful strike to make Americans safer?’

Gomez cut him off declaring ‘this is serious’ as his time for questioning the witness was running out, but the exchange did not stop there. 

Congressman Jimmy Gomez argued Hegseth’s drinking was relevant and the question was top of mind for ‘every American’ as Hegseth is facing backlash for revealing plans on strikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat that included a reporter

Hegseth faced accusations of heavy drinking during his confirmation process in January

The next lawmaker up gave Ratcliffe time to respond without interruption. The CIA director used that time to give a ‘general reflection.’

Ratcliffe said for the last few days members of the intelligence community have been asking questions about the Signal group, but he accused Senate and House Democrats of not asking questions on China, Russia, Iran ‘or the real threats that are going on to the United States.’

He fired back that they can say they care about the good work agencies like the CIA are doing, but he pointed out that no one had asked about the capture of a senior planner of the bombing at Kabul International Airport in August 2021.

‘Instead we’re getting questions about whether someone has drinking habits,’ he later added. 

He said he wished in an annual threats hearing, that’s what they would talk about. 

Gabbard also chimed in that Hegseth has continued to operate in the best interest of the American people. 

‘I think it’s wrong to impugn him especially at a point where he’s not here to defend his own honor,’ she added. 

But Ratcliffe’s accusations about Democrats did not sit will with the next Democratic lawmaker up for questioning at the hearing.

Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)  who served in the U.S. Air Force, responded that Ratcliffe accused her as a Democrat of not caring about national threats was ‘offensive’ and she needed to ‘put him in check.’

‘I very much wanted to talk about those, had in fact prepared questions in advance of this hearing about those threats,’ she said. ‘But I don’t have time to ask those questions because the threat is in the house.’

‘The threat is across the dais, and  I need to ask these questions. It’s my job to ask these questions of you,’ she said. 

Houlahan said when she served in the military, had this happened to her, she would have ‘walked her resignation in immediately.’ 

‘Communicating these sort of things in Signal is not ok,’ she said.