Pete Hegseth lost his cool in front of Congress. It was a dramatic unraveling

NewsWorldAmericasAnalysisPete Hegseth lost his cool in front of Congress. It was a dramatic unravelingHegseth has his favorite soundbites — but none of them landed here, where he sounded increasingly deluded and desperate, writes Holly BaxterWednesday 29 April 2026 19:21 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2967479","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hegseth-congress-iran-war-trump-b2967479.html","title":"Pete Hegseth lost his cool in front of Congress. It was a dramatic unraveling "},"popoverPlacementOverride":"bottom"}CloseHegseth explodes after Democrat accuses him of misleading country into 'disaster' Iran warThe latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_Evening_Newsletter","regTitle":"Evening Headlines","subscriptionGroup":"us_evening_headlines","subscriptionGroupId":"4326e634-422a-4447-8e1e-604a937cd3b5","type":"daily_news","pathPrefix":["/us","/news/world/americas","/news/world/americas/crime"],"title":"The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday","mobileTitle":"Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/usEveningHeadlines1_1.png","label":"I would like to receive morning headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email","newsletterKey":"receiveEveningHeadlinesUSNews","regSourceSection":"...