Sen. Mark Kelly responds to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s calls for second investigation

WASHINGTON (KYMA, CNN) - Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) appeared on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper Monday to respond to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's calls for a second investigation.

This comes after Sen. Kelly spoke with Margaret Brennan on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday about the Iran war's depletion of U.S. munitions stockpiles.

On social media, Secretary Hegseth accused the retired U.S. Navy captain of revealing classified information.

A responding post from the senator includes a video of the secretary himself discussing stockpiles at a public hearing.

"He doesn't want to be held accountable. They've expended an enormous amount of munitions. The only investigation we need, the one we need right now, is after 15,000 strikes, all we got out of this, we have 13 dead Americans, we got the Strait of Hormuz closed, gas prices in Arizona are $4.80 a gallon, seem to be heading up. And we have a Secretary of Defense, not only is he ill-prepared, unprepared, unqualified for this job, he doesn't want to be held accountable for the actions.

Nothing I said was classified. We had this discussion in an open hearing. When you are going to hit 15,000 targets, you're going to use a lot of munitions. [...] And by the way, he's asking for $25 to $50 billion to replenish these munitions where he said it's going to take years. So again, what he's trying to avoid is accountability. This thing is not going the way they expected. They went into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline...  

When somebody like me starts asking them questions, whether it's I make a point on a show like yours or in an open hearing, they don't want to give specific answers because they probably, at this point, they realize that they've made a number of mistakes."

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)

During the interview with Tapper, Kelly talked about the real costs of the war with Iran for U.S. servicemembers and Arizona residents.

"This is about 2 million retired servicemembers. And for anybody who listened to that hearing last week, one of the really interesting parts was at the end when Pete Hegseth's lawyer, which is a DOJ lawyer, said that if any servicemember, like myself, who served 20 or 25 years in the military, if they want their First Amendment rights, they should give up their retirement, give up their pension, give up their health care, and then they would be free to speak out. How un-American is that?  

People who have given the most for this country are being asked now by this administration or told, 'Hey, if you don't do this, if you don't shut up, you could lose your pension, you could lose your rank and retirement.'"

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)

The new probe follows two other so-far failed recent attempts to punish Kelly. They center on a video he made with other lawmakers, urging service members not to obey illegal orders.

An appeals court appears poised to side with Kelly in the matter after a grand jury declined to indict him.

To watch the full interview, click here.