Pete Hegseth Dragged With Epic Factcheck After Sharing Service Member's Video Supporting Iran War

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was fact-checked after he tried to drum up support for President Donald Trump's Iran war by sharing a video of a U.S. service member reminding others in the military that they "swore an oath" to fight—but the video is not what it seems.

In the video he shared, the service member says "everybody wants my friggin' opinion on what's going on in the country right now," adding that "if you're a Marine, a service member of this country ... you've got one friggin' overall job and one overall mission to be combat ready."

He adds:

"You understand? If something happens and we go to friggin' war tonight ... your job is to be ready for combat, and if the blue goes up, you and me and everybody else, we're getting on a plane, we're getting on a ship, and we're going to go forward."

"You're going to leave every friggin' thing that you got here stateside behind and that includes your feelings about everything. Don't friggin' forget it."

However, a Community Note below Hegseth's post points out that the video was posted on January 15, weeks before the Trump administration launched strikes on Iran on February 28 in a joint operation with Israel.

The video features Christian Bull—now a right-wing TikToker—who enlisted in 1998 and later served as a drill instructor in San Diego. Bull was ultimately relieved of duty for a “loss of confidence in his ability to lead” after he was caught on video searching through a subordinate Marine’s home.

Bull had reportedly been conducting a wellness check on the Marine, Juan Gamez-Alzate, after he failed to report for duty. However, Gamez-Alzate’s absence stemmed from an arrest related to a traffic violation—something he said he had already communicated to his sergeant major.

A Marine Corps spokesperson who spoke to Task & Purpose in 2021 said the following about Bull:

“Sgt. Maj. [Christian] Bull was relieved due to the loss of confidence in his ability to lead. It is a necessity to enforce standards and expectations and to ensure that 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing provides strong and effective leadership to promote operational excellence, trust, and combat readiness.”

While Bull's unit did not offer further details, the publication learned Bull "was relieved after he was told not to discuss the matter and his inability to communicate with Marines made his position as a senior enlisted leader untenable."

Hegseth was quickly called out.

60 percent of the country is against the war in Iran, according to the latest CBS/YouGov poll, and 57 percent of respondents said they believe the conflict is either ending up “somewhat badly” or “very badly” for their country.

No wonder Hegseth is really reaching to get people behind it.