Steve Cohen

No one in power gets a free pass. HuffPost holds leaders accountable, exposes abuses and uncovers the truth through independent reporting. Help us keep asking the hard questions.

Already a member? Log in to hide these messages.

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) used G-rated language in torching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his disrespectful behavior.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday landed perhaps the shortest and most succinct rebuke yet for laughing during a Veterans Day visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) had only two words when asked if he had a message.

“F off,” Cohen told Meidas Touch reporter Pablo Manriquez.

Hegseth triggered resounding outrage when he and his party had to be loudly admonished Wednesday by a U.S. Army sentinel guarding the tomb, who stopped his march and loudly called out, “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”

The controversial incident came less than 24 hours after Hegseth survived an impeachment attempt in the House of Representatives, and prompted widespread condemnation from several Democratic lawmakers when captured footage obtained by CNN went viral.

Cohen said the inappropriate behavior was “fitting for Hegseth,” as the former Fox News host “has no respect for anybody,” and wagered there won’t be any repercussions for him “because Trump won’t care — and doesn’t understand it.”

Some critics worried that the soldier himself would be punished for scolding Hegseth and his group, but Cohen argued he didn’t “think anything will happen to the officer. It shouldn’t. He’s, in my opinion, a hero.” It appears Hegseth carefully considered as much.

The defense secretary has since presented the soldier and his colleagues with an award for their dutiful service, and shared a series of photos of the occasion on social media with the caption, “We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, Specialist. Carry on Patriots.”

Hegseth has been an arguably ruthless Defense secretary in regards to foreign policy.

He has notably spearheaded a U.S. airstrike campaign on merely suspected alleged drug boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters that has killed at least 240 people across more than 70 operations since September 2025, and has vowed to return a “warrior ethos” to the military.

He also infamously pledged earlier this year to give Iranians “no quarter” in Trump’s ongoing war, apparently unaware that the term means killing combatants even if they surrender — and that this is forbidden by the most fundamental frameworks of international humanitarian law.

When asked about the Veterans Day incident and what kind of message it sends to the armed forces and Americans in general, Cohen stated plainly about Hegseth, “I think his entire, his appointment, was an embarrassment to the troops. He’s a clown.”