The Illinois Democrat countered Hegseth's curious refusal to name Russia as the aggressor in the Ukraine war with his own work as a former Fox News host.

Hegseth is hardly the only prominent Republican official who has dodged the question since President Donald Trump outrageously claimed that Ukraine “started” the war. Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, also repeatedly refused to answer the question.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz both refused to call Russia the aggressor in the Ukrainian war, in separate interviews three years after Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and changes at the Pentagon.

“Today, President Emmanuel Macron of France joined me in the Oval Office to speak to the G7 Summit,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The meeting was convened by Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, the current chair of G7, to acknowledge the Third Anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine War—Which would have never started if I was President.”

By Eric Schmitt and John Ismay Reporting from Washington Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ... chips with Russia off the table. “There is no betrayal there,” Mr. Hegseth said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said of potential negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that "everything is on the table." "I want to be clear about something as it pertains ...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s overseas trip started with heckling from ... the hapless Pentagon chief publicly said it was “unrealistic” to think Russia wouldn’t keep portions of Ukraine it took by force. He added that Ukrainian membership ...

Hegseth, 44, demanded a proposal that would include annual 8% cuts to the Pentagon’s roughly $850 billion budget, according to a memo.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other allies of President Trump won't state a plain fact about the war. Politics has a way of making simple truths harder to tell.