WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, on Wednesday questioned U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during a Defense Subcommittee hearing on President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget. Murphy challenged Hegseth on his readiness to deploy the military for President Trump’s political benefit but not to defend the Capitol during January 6th. He also pushed Hegseth to explain why taxpayers are being asked to foot the bill to modify and upgrade the luxury jet the Qatari government gifted Trump for his personal use after his term ends. 

Murphy pressed Hegseth for refusing to say whether he supported calling in the National Guard to quell the January 6th Capitol riot: “I think that speaks to the worry that many Americans have, that there is a double standard. That you are not willing to defend against attacks made on our democracy by supporters of the president, but you are willing to deploy the National Guard to protect against protesters who are criticizing the president. 

Murphy continued: “That’s not how our taxpayer dollars are supposed to work. They’re supposed to be used to defend the United States, no matter the nature of the political affiliation of the protesters.” 

Murphy highlighted the brazen corruption of using taxpayer dollars to upgrade the luxury jet from Qatar after Hegseth confirmed it would be transferred to Trump after his presidency ended:  “Why would we ask the American taxpayer to spend upwards of a billion dollars on a plane that would then only be used for a handful of months and then transferred directly to the president? … I think this is extraordinary, Mr. Chairman. We’re talking about a pretty massive investment of appropriations dollars into a plane that, the Secretary is saying, is currently planned to be transferred personally to the president. There’s a lot of other pending needs that we need to fund. This would seem to be low on the list.” 

A full transcript of Murphy’s exchange with Hegseth can be found below:

MURPHY: “Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. Thank you Mr. Secretary for being here today.

“I wanted to build on some of the questions that Senator Schatz was asking, just to try to build a fact predicate for some of the tough spending decisions we’re going to have to make here. Just to confirm, I heard you say, with respect to the gift of the plane from Qatar, that we do not yet have a signed MOU with the government of Qatar, is that right?”

HEGSETH: “Correct. We’re in the process of working through that.”

MURPHY: “And did you also say we don’t have a signed contract with the company that is going to do the work, or did you say that we have a contract, you’re just not willing to disclose the terms?”

HEGSETH: “The terms should not be disclosed of anything related to an aircraft of this type.”

MURPHY: “So, in 2018, when the contract was signed with Boeing to do the upgrades, or the new contracts for Air Force One, the terms of that contract were disclosed. They were made public. In fact, it was the Trump administration that issued a press release giving the total as $3.9 billion. Are you saying this time around, even after you signed the contract, you’re not going to make public any of the terms of the contract?”

HEGSETH: “I wasn’t involved in that previous administration decision, but we’re happy to take a look.”

MURPHY: “The Air Force testified before the House that that contract would likely deliver the new Air Force Ones by the 2028 timeframe. It doesn't stand to reason that you will be able to retrofit the plane from Qatar much sooner than 2028. I’m trying to understand what the gap is that we’re trying to fill. If this contract ends up being a half a billion dollars and the gap only ends up being six months, that doesn't sound like a wise investment for this committee to make.”

HEGSETH: “Senator, I would defer to the expertise of the Air Force as far as timing of modifications and when that would happen, but there’s also been delay after delay after delay on the Boeing side, so I don't know that a firm fixed date yet, unfortunately, can be counted on.”

MURPHY: “So, obviously the underlying question here is ‘what is going to happen to the plane at the end of Trump's presidency?’ The president said on May 12 that this plane would be transferred to his presidential library at the end of his term. Is that your understanding of what is going to happen with this plane?”

HEGSETH: “The president said that. That’s my understanding, although I would look at what comes out in the MOU.”

MURPHY: “Why would we ask the American taxpayer to spend upwards of a billion dollars on a plane that would then only be used for a handful of months and then transferred directly to the president? That doesn't sound like a wise use of taxpayer dollars.”

HEGSETH: “A lot of the capabilities, as you know, Senator, of that particular platform are and should remain classified. So there are reasons why you might modify, even for a short period of time, an aircraft to ensure the safety and security of the president of the United States.”

MURPHY: “When do you believe that those upgrades would be made? How long would the president have it before it got transferred to his personal possession?”

HEGSETH: “That would be a determination of the Air Force, that would take hold of it and make those modifications within whatever time window they believe gets it to the place where it needed to be.”

MURPHY: “Yeah, I think this is extraordinary, Mr. Chairman. We’re talking about a pretty massive investment of appropriations dollars into a plane that, the secretary is saying, is currently planned to be transferred personally to the president. There’s a lot of other pending needs that we need to fund. This would seem to be low on the list. 

“Mr. Secretary, one final question. Obviously you know that there is a concern in the public about a double standard that is applied to protests – sometimes protest that turns violent. The president, when he came into office, issued pardons to the individuals that attacked the United States Capitol, including those individuals who beat, savagely, police officers. You have deployed the National Guard and readied Marines in a way that many people think is unnecessary given the state and the local resources. So maybe let me ask the question this way so that you can assuage people’s concerns that there is a double standard: the National Guard was deployed here on January 6, and that was a decision made by the Department of Defense. Do you support that decision? Do you believe that that was the right decision, to deploy the National Guard to defend the Capitol on January 6?”

HEGSETH: “All I know is it’s the right decision to be deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles to defend ICE agents, who deserve to be defended in the execution of their jobs.”

MURPHY: “But I think it's important to know whether you think it was also important to have the National Guard defending the United States Capitol, when there were violent protesters here on the president’s behalf, to make sure that folks know that you care about protest, whether it’s against the president or on behalf of the president.”

HEGSETH: “Senator, I was in the Washington D.C. National Guard when that happened, and was initially ordered to go guard the inauguration of Joe Biden. But because of the politicization of the Biden administration, my orders were revoked, and ultimately, because of the politics that were being played inside the Defense Department by the previous administration.”

MURPHY: “But do you support the decision made on January 6 to send the National Guard here to defend the Capitol?”

HEGSETH: “I support the decision that President Trump made, in requesting the National Guard, that was denied. President Trump requested support for the National Guard in advance and was denied.”

MURPHY: “You do not support the decision to send the National Guard here to defend the Capitol.  I think that speaks to the worry that many Americans have, that there is a double standard. That you are not willing to defend against attacks made on our democracy by supporters of the president, but you are willing to deploy the National Guard to protect against protesters who are criticizing the president. That’s not how our taxpayer dollars are supposed to work. They’re supposed to be used to defend the United States, no matter the nature of the political affiliation of the protesters. 

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”