Hegseth in the Hot Seat episode artwork

EPISODE · May 1, 2026 · 28 MIN

Hegseth in the Hot Seat

from The Daily · host Deborah Lebree

Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, went before Congress to answer for a war in Iran that has reached a stalemate and a management style that has caused controversy at the Pentagon. Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent, takes us inside Mr. Hegseth’s testimony. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times in Washington. Background reading:  Read takeaways from Mr. Hegseth’s second day of testimony on the Iran war. Photo: Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, went before Congress to answer for a war in Iran that has reached a stalemate and a management style that has caused controversy at the Pentagon. Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent, takes us inside Mr. Hegseth’s testimony. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times in Washington. Background reading:  Read takeaways from Mr. Hegseth’s second day of testimony on the Iran war. Photo: Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Hegseth in the Hot Seat

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Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, went before Congress to answer for a war in Iran that has reached a stalemate and a management style that has caused controversy at the Pentagon. Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent, takes us...

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