ICYMI: On CNN, Kelly Responds to Hegseth’s New Retaliatory Threat: “What He’s Trying to Avoid is Accountability”

"Not only is he ill-prepared, unprepared, unqualified for this job, he doesn't want to be held accountable for his actions."

In case you missed it, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly was on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper and responded to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's threat to launch a review of his speech.

Kelly also sounded the alarm on the real costs of Trump's Iran war for American servicemembers and everyday Arizonans.

Sen. Kelly speaks to Jake Tapper.

Watch the full conversation here. See key excepts below:

On Hegseth's threat to investigate Kelly for quoting comments Hegseth made in an open 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."

On Hegseth avoiding accountability…

"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."

On the Administration threatening retired servicemembers' First Amendment rights…

"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.'"