Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona renewed his call for President Trump to remove Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying his continued leadership of the Pentagon is making the United States less safe.
“Pete Hegseth is the least qualified Secretary of Defense we’ve ever had, and it makes our country less safe,” Kelly wrote on X, sharing a clip of his appearance on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton.
Kelly’s remarks were part of a broader interview, published by his office, in which he also discussed legislation to expand mentorship and teaching opportunities for men, as well as the economic and foreign policy consequences of Trump’s war with Iran.
On Hegseth specifically, Kelly said the pattern of firings at the Pentagon began almost immediately after Hegseth took office. “Right from the beginning of this administration, as soon as Pete Hegseth got the reins of the Department of Defense, started firing Black people and women,” Kelly said. “They don’t want Black people and women in leadership positions. He’s made that perfectly clear. And by the way, he doesn’t even try to make an excuse. Doesn’t talk about their competence for these jobs. We’re losing multiple generations of leadership from the military. Valued leadership. Fired CQ Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, because of the color of his skin.”
Kelly said the consequences would extend well beyond Hegseth’s tenure. “This is gonna have a long-term negative impact until this president decides to fire this guy,” Kelly said. “Pete Hegseth is by far the most incompetent person we have ever seen in this job, bar none. Nobody close. Nothing against the Saturday Morning Guy and people that serve on cable news in the morning, but he did not have the background for this, and he got all kinds of personal problems. And now he spends his time dealing with things that don’t matter. Testosterone. I mean, we don’t need more testosterone in the U.S. military, we need better leadership, and it starts with him.”
Kelly, a 25-year Navy combat veteran who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee as Ranking Member of its Airland Subcommittee, was also critical of Trump’s broader strategic judgment in the interview. “This president doesn’t think strategically,” Kelly said. “We often talk about people playing checkers and people playing chess. This guy is moving a couple red solo cups around on the table. He has no clue what he’s doing and doesn’t think strategically. He doesn’t think about the consequences. I worry about what he’s going to do next because he’s often irrational.”
Kelly connected the war to what he described as Trump’s abandonment of his own campaign priorities. “He got us into this war when he said he was going to bring down costs for the American people,” Kelly said. “People are struggling. Half of Americans are having a hard time affording food. Young people can’t buy homes, can’t afford rent. He kicked millions of people off of their health care coverage. They can’t afford to go to a doctor. That’s what he said he was going to focus on. And he focuses on, he starts a war with Iran, and then he spends an enormous amount of time on things like the reflecting pool and the ballroom and an arch.”
Hegseth fired Gen. CQ Brown, the second African American to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, both without public explanation in February 2025. He has since dismissed or sidelined more than two dozen generals and admirals in total, including several other senior women, and blocked the two-star promotions of seven Navy officers earlier this month, five of whom were women or people of color.
Kelly’s criticism of Hegseth’s July 15 announcement of a new testosterone screening policy for troops 30 and older echoes comments he made days earlier on CNN, where he called the policy “a weird idea.” He has separately been in an ongoing legal dispute with Hegseth since January, after Hegseth moved to censure Kelly and downgrade his military retirement rank over a video in which Kelly and other retired service members reminded troops they could refuse illegal orders.
Kelly’s original mentorship legislation discussed in the same interview, the Educators for America Act and the Building Community in America Act, aims to create new pathways for Americans, with a particular focus on men, to serve as teachers, mentors and volunteers, according to the Senate press release.
Other Senate Democrats have separately pressed Hegseth on the testosterone policy. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, Gary Peters, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego wrote to Hegseth arguing the Pentagon had “provided no evidence that this sweeping new policy will improve” force readiness, and requested details on its scientific basis and cost.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon has issued a direct public response to Kelly’s latest remarks calling for Hegseth’s removal.