Former President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and former Chief of Staff, Kelly Magsamen, have sparked controversy by launching a personal attack on Pete Hegseth after a fatal plane crash involving a military helicopter and an American Airlines aircraft. In a sharp rebuke, the former defense official, who helped Austin cover up his absence from the Pentagon during a health crisis in January 2024, attacked Hegseth for his comments about DEI and falsely accused him of blaming the female co-pilot, Capt. Rebecca Lobach, for the incident.

Fox News Pentagon reporter Jennifer Griffin first reported on Magsamen’s comments toward Hegseth, accusing him of mismanaging his first crisis as the secretary of defense under the Trump administration, adding that “so far it’s not a good sign.”

More from Magsamen’s remarks:

Secretary Hegseth has a lot to learn. When you speak as the Secretary of Defense, the entire force and their families are listening. They are looking to him for leadership and support, not suspicion. For him to imply that this pilot was not qualified because of her gender is absurd. He should be supporting a thorough unbiased investigation and supporting all three of these Army families. To add a layer of stress to this one family in their time of grief is shocking. Imagine having to worry about political attacks on your daughter while grieving. The Secretary should be showing leadership and consoling the families and overseeing an unbiased investigation. This is the first crisis he has had to manage and so far it’s not a good sign.

However, while Hegseth spoke broadly about DEI initiatives, he did not blame DEI for the deadly crash that killed all sixty-four passengers and crew onboard the American Airlines plane, as well as the three crew members on the Black Hawk. Instead, he said the crew members were “fairly experienced.” (Read more from “Lloyd Austin’s Ex-Chief of Staff Attacks Pete Hegseth Over Plane Crash” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr