Multiple Scandals Engulf Pentagon Chief

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0:43Available 4x4 capability helps you drive safely and confidently when weather shifts or plans change. The laughter, high fives, and shared wins become the memories you cherish. In the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Jeep and the Jeep Grill are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC. Welcome to The Beat, everyone. I'm Ari Melber. We have a lot coming up tonight, including some very interesting news by the end of the hour. But we begin with what is now a story that not only roils the Trump administration, our Pentagon, the United States as we know it, but honestly, the whole world. Because while we often look at problems these days in America, and we've covered many of them, the fate of the so-called war, or what some see as a pretense, a wannabe war, waged by this Trump administration, perhaps illegally against other countries, and the fate of the Pentagon chief leading that effort, all of this concerns a lot of real people, real lives around the world.

1:41And that's where we begin, with Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who faces allegations of having committed or overseen a war crime. And against that backdrop, a new internal Pentagon report, which is done by these watchdogs. You may remember Trump ousted many of them. You may remember the reports and the concerns from lawyers and nonpartisan legal experts about why you need those watchdogs in government, totally apart from whether you voted for or like a given administration. Well, here's an example of a watchdog doing its work, because while it appears that Mr. Hegseth did not participate or cooperate meaningfully, and we'll get to that, the watchdog at the Pentagon has found that nonetheless, based on the evidence they gathered, he put his employees, service members, at risk.

2:28And that's in a scandal you might remember, the intelligence failures and mistakes committed by Hegseth and others in what they called SignalGate for the name of the app they used. So this is the Inspector General report. It centers around the messages sent from high-ranking Trump national security officials. That included the vice president, the CIA director, the then national security advisor, and others. At the time, they were discussing U.S. strikes in Yemen. These messages were sent on this secret app, Signal, which, as a reminder, is something that civilians and random people sometimes use for a layer of security, although the government can tell you Signal is not like magic.

3:07You can get a hold of Signal Chats, as these people ultimately found. And remember, they have a lot more secure material available to them that apparently they just flouted and didn't use. Now, the initial mistake that teed this off was a journalist, the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to the chat. An unclassified version of the watchdog report is set to come out tomorrow, but we're already getting glimpses of it and it's going to Congress. There's a source who has knowledge of the report and tells MSNOW that it found Hegseth put the operations and service people at risk with his signal mistake.

3:43Hegseth sent messages that included information about targets, weapons that the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing according to the information we initially already had from the Atlantic. Sources also say that Hegseth refused an interview request and would not turn over his phone. So you have this kind of watchdog investigation, and then you have, of course, powerful people who sometimes flout it. But again, for someone who was just using signal willy-nilly, the question is, if he would send these messages, including it accidentally or not, to a reporter, why wouldn't he trust or cooperate with his own Pentagon team to get to the bottom of this?

4:23And by the way, people in government are humans. Humans make mistakes. If you make a mistake, that is, you don't try to leak information, you're not trying to hurt the troops, but you made a mistake and now you want to clean it up and say, hey, let's not do that again. Well, the usual proper course would be to cooperate confidentially with your own Pentagon investigation. Address the problem, put together preventive measures and move forward. According to the reporting we have, and we'll update it as we get it, Hegseth did not do that, did not cooperate. And the report finds he violated department policy.

4:53That is, of course, the ongoing sort of runway on a story that made big waves when it first happened so long ago. Then there is the very recent story where the probes are just getting started of an alleged war crime that was conducted under Hegseth's leadership. Who might ultimately be held responsible for that is, of course, a intricate military and legal question. A reminder, of course, the military is, in our country, governed by its own Uniform Code of Military Justice. There is a different legal system, if you saw a few good men, that oversees that, separate from, say, just the random federal courts that others deal in.

5:30And so there will be a real military legal investigation here if the process works. And then there is also Congress, which currently has calls from Democrats and Republicans to get to the bottom of this, to interview the necessary individuals. And some saying Hegseth has lost confidence and may ultimately have to leave this office. If you go over to conservative media, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal says Hegseth must, of course, testify under oath about this, while the commanding officer, Admiral Mitch Brady, will be giving a classified briefing to lawmakers tomorrow. Hegseth has faced criticism for his odd public and, at times, frankly, Orwellian messages that he's rushed to post about Bradley.

6:12You know, this is often a very content-oriented social media type cabinet. And so he rushed onto social media platforms and X to post things that seemed to pin the blame on this individual while also claiming to take some sort of higher ground. Quote, Admiral Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100 % support. Fine, but look at the next part. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made on the September 2nd mission and on all other sense. That phrasing has roiled the Pentagon and plenty of military allies who look at it as in the middle of this process of investigation, the secretary jumping out to say he made these calls as if there was no oversight.

6:57Of course, we have civilian oversight of the military in this country. And currently that is done by Pete Hegseth. Then he said he wasn't in the room for the second strike. I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. So I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours or whatever. So you didn't see any survivors, to be clear, after that first strike? I did not personally see survivors, but I stand because the thing was on fire. It was exploded in fire or smoke, you can't see the digital. This is called the fog of war.

7:34His argument is this is the fog of war. Many people have pointed out there is no declared war. Congress has certainly not voted to authorize a war. You would have noticed if that happened. And so the administration finds itself stretched very far on this very regrettable, probable tragedy stretched from a war they have not declared or gotten legal authority for all the way out to these operations that when they go a certain way, the Pentagon and the Trump media machine are quick to basically push out as a kind of video content to show what they're doing against perhaps drug boats. We don't know.

8:15You need to check the evidence on each one and against the wider foreign threats that they say are so central to their priorities. But stretched across that is a question of whether they committed a clear war crime. By doing something that is very clearly banned, everyone who's ever practiced law or been in the military knows about this. You don't shoot down innocent parachuters, even if they were moments ago waging war, because they become from people that you try to lawfully take control of as combatants, as prisoners of war, but you don't go around executing people. And that's war. Remember what I said, they're stretched way away from war because these weren't uniformed foreign adversaries of some other country.

9:01These are boats full of people who, if they're doing bad things, can be caught and dealt with like normal, but aren't engaged in war against us as a factual matter. Our colleague, Rachel Maddow, who has covered and written about American foreign policy in many contexts, made a statement in an interview here on our air that we want to basically rebroadcast because she discussed with precision what a serious problem this is, a catastrophe for those who were pulled into this and apparently for the Pentagon chief. And it's a catastrophe. I think Pete Hegseth, it's impossible to imagine that he survives this as Secretary of Defense.

9:39I think he must resign, and I think Republicans will ask for that ultimately once they investigate this. But this is a disaster for this generation of people serving in the United States military. And that is a tragedy more than a farce. A tragedy more than a farce. Lives have already been lost. Some of them, according to the evidence emerging, were people that should not, under our laws of war, have been killed. Period. Who is responsible for that? In the gravest sense, morally and legally, is a process question. It's not something that can be resolved by one video, or one leak, or one article.

10:22But as Rachel put it there, it is the type of catastrophe that has a lot riding on it right now. I've got special guests. We're back on this in 90 seconds.

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12:06We're back with David Rothkopf and retired Major General Stephen Leper as we cover a very important story. General, your thoughts? Well, my thoughts are you're absolutely right in your setup that there is a significant question here whether the first strikes on these vessels is lawful. The administration has certainly said that this is a non-international armed conflict. They've posited that as their legal justification. We don't know that for sure because the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum, which presumably establishes that as the basis for these strikes, is yet to be released. And so we're basically confronted with the quandary, what law do we apply?

12:51If you accept the administration's views that this is non-international armed conflict, then this second strike of this vessel on the 2nd of September could very well be a war crime because the laws of armed conflict do apply. If they're not lawful, if they're not a non-international armed conflict, then the laws of war wouldn't apply and domestic law would apply, in which case those facts could also constitute murder. Right. I mean, what's done is done. But as you put it clearly, it would be worse for some of those involved if it were out of a war context. Yes. Well, I think the consequences could be similar on both sides.

13:32I mean, if this is a war crime, it could be prosecuted as such under the war crime statute in U.S. criminal law. It could also be prosecuted as murder. If the war crimes provision in U.S. law doesn't apply because this is not an armed conflict, then it would just be murder. So six of one, half dozen of the other. And Steve, your view of how the Pentagon chief has discussed this so far? Well, I find it embarrassing and disappointing that he is not accepting responsibility for his role in all of this. Certainly, the admiral who had operational control over the forces was responsible for ensuring that the orders he was given were carried out.

14:22The remaining question here, and hopefully it'll be uncovered by the congressional hearings, is what exactly was that order? We still don't know. If it was, as the Washington Post reported, kill everyone, then it could easily be construed as an order to kill everyone, including survivors, wounded, or people who are trying to surrender, which would be a violation of international law. David? Well, I think this goes beyond politics. It goes beyond any individual. It puts U.S. soldiers and sailors at risk. If we're not playing by these rules, then what is the message it sends to our enemies? It puts the order and discipline of the United States military at risk.

15:08If the guys at the top are saying that they shouldn't be obeying international law, obeying the Uniform Code of Military Justice, what does that mean for future behavior? If we're engaged in illegal war against an enemy that does not pose a threat, it's one set of issues. issues as the general has just described. There are a set of legal issues that are involved here. But, you know, it goes back to Rachel's point as far as the future of Pete Hegseth is concerned. This is not a man who can continue to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense precisely because from Signalgate through to this moment, his actions are putting our troops and our country at risk.

15:57Understood. And there's a lack of seriousness, clarity and responsibility in his record here. We now have almost about a year of first term. And that's distinct from his presentation. Like a president who talks openly about central casting, David Mr. Hegseth has mastered some of that medium. He worked in television, no shade to any of us who work in TV, but it is different than the massive responsibilities that face him now. And it would seem there's a real gap between looking the part and doing the part. David George Will, a longtime conservative, put it very starkly. He calls this a sickening moral slum.

16:45Hegseth seems to be, he writes, quote, a war criminal without a war. The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of administration should nauseate Americans. David. Look, hiring a guy with no experience should have nauseated Americans. Hiring a guy with a history of alleged sexual abuse or alcohol abuse should have nauseated Americans. When he got on the job, Signal Gate should have done it. When his staff started turning on them, that should have done it. When he launched a DEI initiative where he started erasing the history of American heroes because they were black or because they were women, that should have done it.

17:27When he started firing generals and admirals because they were black or because they were women, that should have done it. When he said it was okay to send U.S. troops into American cities, that should have done it. There are countless other examples. He pulled together every general and admiral, brought them to Quantico, Virginia. And what did he say? What was the big message? You shouldn't be fat. You shouldn't have a beard. You need to have my warrior ethos. Well, look, at this point, Ari, he doesn't have a warrior ethos. He has a war criminal ethos. And it's time to move on. Again, you make reference to the war criminal allegation and evidence that hangs over all of this.

18:10Here was on Fox News what some of their viewers were hearing from Judge Napolitano. This is an act of a war crime, ordering survivors who the law requires be rescued instead to be murdered. There's absolutely no legal basis for it. Everybody along the line who did it, from the secretary of defense to the admiral to the people who actually pulled the trigger, should be prosecuted for a war crime for killing these two people. And I should mention, he's been a Fox analyst speaking there on Newsmax. Let me correct my reference. Major General Judge Napolitano puts it that way. Could you give us any more insight into how this works within the military, where orders are generally sacrosanct, and you don't get to the level of this admiral and others without having dusted up, I suppose at times, with the folks who come in to oversee the thing?

19:09So where do we go from here? Well, you know, the process is the process under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for the uniformed participants in this event. For Secretary Hegsseff, we would be talking about criminal law in the U.S. federal courts. So there are two systems of justice here. I'll let you finish. You're making it clear that anyone who's in uniform acting under the authority of the United States is under the UCMJ. The civilian leadership, if it came to that, would be a different legal system. That's exactly right. And you mentioned that there is a strong presumption in military law that all orders must be followed.

19:50And that presumption is overcome only if a military member is presented with an order that is patently unlawful. And only in those circumstances does a military member have a duty to disobey those orders. So the presumption of lawfulness of the orders exists all the way down the chain of command and, quite frankly, is incumbent upon the most senior officers, especially when the orders come from the most senior levels in our government, to question the orders if there are questions, to push back on the orders that they consider to be unlawful or immoral or unethical, and to shield, to insulate the folks below them in the chain of command from having to execute those orders.

20:34Yeah. And as you say, the culpability may run up the line. I was very clear about emphasizing this is a process. There's got to be a full investigation. You can't go off any one item. But you got to look up the line on a process like this at whether there was pressure to deal with isolating or ousting these lawyers, oversight staff. We've seen that problem in multiple agencies under the Trump administration. They want to get rid of what they view as anything that's in the way. Well, sometimes what's in the way in a healthy functioning Pentagon or White House are lawyers who try to protect people from their own worst instincts.

21:10Some of that seems to have been cleared out. I want to thank retired Major General Stephen Lepper and David Rothkopf, foreign policy expert, both of you on this topic. Thank you. tonight we're also going to see for the first time these newly released videos and pictures from epstein island part of the ongoing release from congress and later tonight 50 cent is here on his big some say controversial and now news making documentary about sean diddy combs including these new videos never before seen of footage from inside diddy's camp before the arrest I've been down the streets amongst the people.

21:52Yeah, I gotta take a bath. I gotta go under the water. Water gotta be boiling hot. Put some peroxide in there.

22:08Take a look at this. brand new, never before seen photos and videos of the now infamous horrific site of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. These are new videos of the Epstein Island, the exterior footage here of what was by any estimation a sprawling, expensive, rich property. Congress released over 200 images and videos that authorities had taken from the Virgin Islands back in 2020. That was after Epstein died in the custody of the United States federal government under Trump administration. That island is commonly called Little St. James. Authorities, as well as many accusers, say it was a kind of a crime spree location.

22:55Authorities and accusers have described the sexual abuse and trafficking of young girls there. Virgin Islands Attorney General discussed this in 2019. Now, some of these images are just of, of course, the property, as I mentioned, empty and after Epstein was gone, An image shows this room where you have 10 masks, a dentist chair, and other equipment. For a vacation spot, it seems odd. Given the backstories that we know, it is at a minimum creepy, although investigators would tell you that the photo alone doesn't tell you much. The New York Times reports that his last girlfriend was actually a dentist.

23:34There's another image that's caught some attention because you can see words written on a board. Now, some of them were redacted by the House committee for whatever reason, but you can see visible references to truth, deception, power there on the left with a little dash down to other terms that could refer to types of power. You see the terms political, F-I-N, which could be financial. P-H looks like could be physical. A phone has some names for speed dial. You can see that there, the blank cell on the upper right. Would you want to be on Jeffrey Epstein's speed dial list right now? Whether and why those redactions will be changed in the future is part of this ongoing process.

24:15Lawmakers want to press DOJ. They're asking the attorney general for a status update given the lawful deadline that she must comply with and that the president signed December 19th. Congressman Robert Garcia discussing the obligation. We keep getting this information and these images and these emails from other sources. We know that what the DOJ has can help us achieve justice for the survivors. The president and the DOJ need to understand that this cover-up that they're involved with needs to end immediately. Then there's the money. Garcia said that JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank have complied and that the committee now has their financial records relating to Epstein.

25:00His associate Maxwell told the judge she does not take a position regarding grand jury transcripts, but is concerned about undue prejudice if she were to get another trial. She also publicized what has been known that she does want to be released. so more videos and material are coming out the deadline is looming and the one person talking in court already got some leniency as a convicted co-conspirator from this administration i'm going to get into all of this with margaret carlson next

25:38new epstein files and videos out tonight while the deadline looms i'm joined by editor lard from Semaphore, Margaret Carlson. Nice to see you in person. Yeah. You look at these videos and pictures and they have a mood. But as I mentioned, you don't know which is which. But it shows the House continuing to try to show people they can get action. They get material. Here's one of these signs that was private property, fancy, they had security. And next they say they got the bank records. It would seem that for a party in the minority, the Democrats have found a way to keep at this. It's going to dribble out.

26:15When I saw that the pictures had been released, I thought, well, here's a little sort of relief. We're going to have some, you know, an architectural digest moment here. But when I looked at it, and I would be happy to be there. And I mean, you and I, or I at least know what it's like to mooch an invitation to a country house. But you wouldn't be striving to go to that particular house. It looks dreary and like an office. And even the words had to be redacted, but they should have redacted some of the furniture. It seems like a grim place to go to unless you had some ulterior activity going on.

27:00And the dental chair, come on. Yeah, we, you know, we said it may relate to the person he was with for some time, but it's still very odd in the masks. I think you're making a point that is sort of interesting when you look at these photos, which is, on the one hand, most people across the world don't have any second home, let alone one in the Caribbean. On the other hand, and we'll put more of the images back up, to your point, it doesn't look like, oh, so amazingly glamorous that you'd have this beachfront view and you'd be enjoying the residence. I think you're speaking to the fact that it looks more like, okay, obviously they've got a big plot of land here, but Were people going down there, people who, again, we have to remind everyone, he had these rich individuals.