House Hearing Explodes As Dem Pushes Hegseth Hoax, CIA Director John Ratcliffe Refuses to Let It Slide

A House Intelligence Committee hearing erupted into a chaotic exchange after Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez (CA) questioned intelligence leaders on whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been drinking when he took part in a Signal group chat that mistakenly looped in Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.

The Wednesday hearing, which was supposed to focus on annual worldwide threats, instead provided an opportunity for Democrat lawmakers to repeatedly hammer Hegseth, whom they now feel is vulnerable due to the controversy.

Gomez, however, opted to take a personal swipe at the secretary and, in the process, furthered an already debunked hoax while pushing the current one.

“A lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits at his confirmation hearing. To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?” Gomez asked.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was the first to reply to Gomez, calmly batting away his suggestion by stating she doesn't "have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth's personal habits."

Ratcliffe, however, was clearly furious.

“You know, no. I’m not going to answer that. I think that’s an offensive line of question," he replied. "The answer is, no."

.@RepJimmyGomez outrageously implies @SecDef was drunk during the successful Houthi strikes, going so far as to repeat a delusional (and debunked) conspiracy theory that he "stood in front of a podium in Europe holding a drink" (it was WATER).

Shame on you, Jim. Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/miigymCauu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 26, 2025

RedState Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar covered how the Atlantic's release of more text messages has proven that the scandal Democrats so desperately need is, in reality, "underwhelming," while Trump administration officials noted there was zero evidence of "classified information" being leaked.

The crux of the argument isn't there as much as Democrats might want it to be. Making a baseless personal allegation wasn't enough for Gomez either. The Democrat representative also decided to try and revive a hoax about Hegseth having been drinking at a NATO press conference in Europe in February.

After cutting Ratcliffe off by repeatedly shouting, "reclaiming my time," Gomez then took a shot at smearing Hegseth.

“I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for men and women in uniform. But this was a question that’s on the top of minds of every American, right?" Gomez alleged. "He stood in front of the podium in Europe, holding a drink. So, of course, we want to know if his performance is compromised."

"Was his performance compromised because of a successful strike?" the outraged CIA Director shot back. "You want to know, you want to talk about accepting responsibility do you think you should accept responsibility for a successful strike to make Americans safer?"

Gomez, all the while, screeched again about reclaiming his time. But after a performance like that, he has zero shot of reclaiming his integrity.

There is no interest on his part regarding the successful attack on Houthi rebel terrorists. Gomez just wants to score points with his low-information base so he can turn around and say, 'See? I'm a fighter.'

In the process, he's flat-out lying. The drink Hegseth had in his hand at the 'podium in Europe' was water, which a handful of rubes in the media suggested was Bourbon due to the color it appeared when his hand was on the back of the glass.

Even Snopes debunked the false claims.

"No credible evidence existed to confirm the rumor that Hegseth drank alcohol at his NATO news conference," the site wrote. "Reviewing available videos showed the liquid in the cup had a clear appearance, and no credible data suggested it was anything other than water."

Democrats like Gomez don't peddle in evidence, credible or otherwise. They only know how to lie.

Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.

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