Former President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the Trump administration’s defense secretary was “very focused on important matters like the jawlines and testosterone levels of our troops and live streaming executions,” as U.S. forces remain engaged in the war with Iran.
Obama made the remarks at a rally at Cleveland’s Public Auditorium for Ohio Democrats Amy Acton, the party’s nominee for governor, and Sherrod Brown, its candidate for the U.S. Senate, in a speech carried live on Obama’s X account and on C-SPAN’s event page. He did not use Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s name, referring to him as “the defense secretary.”
The comments came moments after Obama said the Iran war had led to attacks on U.S. allies and bases, American deaths and higher oil and diesel prices. “Meanwhile, you got the defense secretary who’s squarely focused,” he said, before briefly breaking off.
“He’s very focused on important matters like the jawlines and testosterone levels of our troops and live streaming executions because that’s how he thinks you cultivate that manly warrior spirit,” Obama said.
“How much time do you think this defense secretary spends looking at himself in the mirror in the morning?” he asked. “I mean, you know he’s working his hair because that’s how warriors look.”
The testosterone reference concerns a July memorandum in which Hegseth directed screening of service members aged 30 and older for testosterone deficiency during annual health assessments. Guidance released on Sept. 17 by the Defense Health Agency applies to male service members, with hormone treatment offered as an option for those found to be deficient.
Hegseth has described the program as a readiness measure. “This initiative … is not about artificial enhancement; it’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight,” he said, according to the agency.
The execution reference concerns Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009 and is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3. “No-brainer—execution by firing squad,” Hegseth said on Oct. 8, according to a clip posted by the Pentagon’s rapid response account. Hegseth also said the execution would be livestreamed, ABC News reported.
A week later, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hasan “will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to ABC News that Hegseth “supports the President’s decision, and they are completely aligned.”
Democrats have made Hegseth a frequent target ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X on Oct. 13, “Why is Pete Hegseth still around?” The Pentagon has defended him, with press secretary Kingsley Wilson saying in a statement to Semafor on Oct. 9 that “Secretary Hegseth has slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way.”
Obama followed his remarks about Hegseth by saying, “These are not serious people,” and that Americans “end up having to pay the price for their lack of seriousness.”
The screening program and the Hasan livestream episode are documented in Pentagon and presidential statements, but Obama did not point to any policy concerning troops’ “jawlines,” and his comments about Hegseth’s appearance are his own characterizations. The livestream plan was dropped after Trump’s Oct. 15 post. Hegseth and the Pentagon had not responded to Obama’s remarks on their X accounts as of early Sunday.