Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) is calling for Senate hearings following revelations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused weapons shipments to Ukraine without informing President Donald Trump or other senior administration officials.
“We need to do our oversight here, ask our questions of this administration just as we have previous administrations,” Young told The Hill‘s Alexander Bolton. “We need to hold hearings and ask questions and learn what’s going on.”
The controversy centers on Hegseth’s decision to unilaterally halt the delivery of Patriot air defense missiles and other critical munitions to Ukraine — a move reportedly made without any prior notice to the White House.
President Trump, caught off guard by the pause, reversed the decision after learning of it, authorizing the immediate delivery of 10 Patriot missile interceptors. Trump was frustrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued aggression and possibly saw the aid pause as a dangerous misstep amid intensifying Russian air assaults on Ukrainian cities.
The decision triggered confusion among U.S. defense officials and alarmed Ukrainian leaders awaiting the munitions.
Further scrutiny has landed on Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, who reportedly played an integral role in influencing Hegseth. Colby, citing concerns about shrinking U.S. stockpiles, has been criticized for failing to consult senior administration officials or coordinate with NATO allies before the pause took effect.
Several Senate Republicans voiced concern over the apparent breakdown in communication.
“To hear there may have been other pauses or this pause went on longer than any of us know, to me that’s alarming,” one GOP senator told Bolton on the condition of anonymity.
“I would elevate this to being beyond concerned, to being alarmed. It’s not like we’re talking to a small arms sale to some African nation, this is Ukraine. This is like the biggest political debate. … This is not something where you have your Secretary of Defense or your assistant or your deputy not be in sync with your president.”
“I find it alarming that you would not have greater understanding as to what is our plan here. That’s kind of scary.”
Mediaite continues:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the most pro-Ukraine voices in the Senate, also spoke to Bolton and said the Senate needs to get to “the bottom” of who exactly who ordered the freeze. “We’ll get to the bottom of that later,” Graham insisted.
Young’s call for hearings comes a day after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) slammed Hegseth on CNN. “With the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large complex organization,” Tillis told Jake Tapper.
Tillis later added, “I mean, this whole idea of having a pause in Ukraine defensive arms, that’s just amateurish. That’s from somebody who doesn’t understand large organization dynamics.”
“So, you know, I don’t regret the decision I made back then — based on the facts as I knew them then. But today, I am beginning to wonder if maybe [the Senate] Armed Services [committee] was a little bit generous with respect to their assessment of his capabilities as a manager of the world’s largest, most complex, and arguably consequential organization,” Tillis said, suggesting Hegseth would not get his vote for confirmation today.
The Biden-era Pentagon faced frequent criticism for sluggish support to Ukraine, but this marks a rare episode of internal breakdown under Trump’s leadership — one that some lawmakers warn could undermine allied confidence and strategic deterrence if not swiftly addressed.
Calls for hearings may intensify as more details emerge about the internal decision-making process behind the pause and whether additional disruptions in arms deliveries occurred without presidential knowledge.
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and once again the GOP rinos attack the folks doing a good job.. typical..