During Wednesday's House Intelligence Committee hearing, Rep Jimmy Gomez called into question Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's alleged drinking problem problems which may have caused the Signal group chat screw-up.
GOMEZ: Additionally, the main person who was involved in this thread that a lot of people want to talk to is Secretary of Defense Hegseth.
And a lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits and his confirmation hearing.
To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?
GABBARD: I don't have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth's personal habits.
Director Radcliffe, same question. Yes or no?
RATCLIFFE: You know, no. I'm going to answer that. I think that's an offensive line of questioning. The answer is no. I find it interesting that you want to...
Hey, I yield back.
No, I'm going to answer.
This is my time.
You asked me a question.
You want an answer?
No, listen.
It's a yes or no.
RATCLIFFE: You don't want to focus on the good work that the CIA is doing, that the intelligence community wants to talk about.
GOMEZ: Director, I reclaim my time. Director, I reclaim my time. I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for our men and women in uniform, but this was a question that's on the top of mind of every American.
He stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink.
So of course, we want to know if his performance is compromised.
If people were asking if General Austin was compromised because of a heart issue...
CIA Director Ratcliffe tried to feign outrage and indirectly claimed that if he was impaired, it didn't affect the mission. However, if Hegseth was impaired, it may have led to Jeffrey Goldberg's inclusion in the leaked Signal group chat, which is why Ratcliffe was being questioned this morning in the first place.
