‘No Accountability’: Dems Calling For Hegseth’s Ouster Trip Over AWOL Lloyd Austin

CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings laid into the Democrats who are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ouster over the Signal-chat SNAFU that resulted in The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg being added to a chat group discussing military strikes on Houthi terrorists.

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s assurance that he does not plan to fire anyone over the Signal incident, Jennings joined Sunday’s broadcast of “State of the Union” and pointed out the hypocrisy of Democrats who were calling for Hegseth’s head despite remaining silent when military leadership under President Joe Biden made decisions that resulted in the deaths of 13 American service-members. He also pointed out the fact that many had remained silent when then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin effectively went AWOL — leaving a subordinate in charge while he was hospitalized, but failing to apprise even the White House of the situation.

WATCH:

🚨Scott Jennings lays out the plain facts to Dems calling for firings over Signalgate —

JENNINGS: “The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration when after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died."

"No accountability was… pic.twitter.com/eE5n3liLIk

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 30, 2025

“If you’re trying to assess ‘what should we do about it,’ I hear Democrats arguing, ‘Well, we should fire Pete Hegseth,’ or, ‘We should fire the National Security Adviser,'” Jennings began. “The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration when after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died, no accountability was meted out. After the drone strike that vaporized those poor kids and that family, no accountability. After the secretary of defense went AWOL, no accountability.”

“So if you’re arguing today that we should get rid of Pete Hegseth over a small mistake regarding communications — even while he was expertly executing this military operation against the Houthi rebels, which also the Biden administration didn’t take up, I just ‚ I don’t have a lot of time for that argument,” Jennings continued.

Another panelist pushed back, arguing that by taking questions and calling for a review, Austin had provided “accountability.”

Jennings was not convinced: “Did a single Democrat ask for his resignation?”