Recently Unearthed Video From 2016 Shows That Pete Hegseth Understood & Agreed With Military Personnel Not Following Illegal Orders

Recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his boss, President Trump, freaked out when Democratic members of Congress, including Senator Mark Kelly, urged members of the military and intelligence communities not to obey illegal orders. They absolutely flipped out, with Trump even suggesting that this might be grounds for execution. That was an unprecedented thing for any sitting president to say.

Well as it turns out, they are finding out that illegal orders exist. And like the cowards we always knew them to be, they are trying to pass the responsibility onto anyone but themselves. Trump seemed to throw Hegseth under the bus, while Hegseth claimed that Admiral Bradley is to blame. 

So apparently, this is their way of admitting that there is such a thing as illegal orders. They just will never admit to having given such orders themselves. 

Huh. 

Shocker, eh?

Well, this seemed like a good opportunity to remind everyone that while Hegseth seems to believe, these days, in a president's unlimited power, he was not always a believer. In a clip from a speech which he gave back in 2016 (the year Trump first won the presidency), Hegseth believed in “consequences for abject war crimes.”  

“I do think there have to be consequences for abject war crimes. If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that,” Hegseth said during an event with the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley in April 2016.   

“That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander in chief. There’s a standard, there’s an ethos, there’s a belief that we are above what so many things that our enemies or others would do,” he added.

So he seems to have understood the limits before taking power, and now seems to understand the limits after facing serious charges for war crimes with the recent strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Yet somehow, while actually in power, he seemed to have forgotten that there were any limits to his power at all. 

Interesting. 

Below is the link to the article I used in writing this particular blog entry (and from which I obtained the quote used above), and a video clip of the speech in question by CNN. 

Enjoy.

Hegseth 2016 comments on not following ‘unlawful orders’ surface: ‘There’s a standard’ by Tara Suter - 12/03/25:

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5632810-caribbean-strike-survivors-war-crime/

Sen. Kelly responds to unearthed Hegseth comments