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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been hit with renewed war crime accusations from House Democrats during back-to-back congressional hearings this week.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: The Pentagon has received significant criticism over a strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab early in the US-Israeli war (which kicked off Feb 28), which killed more than 165 people, mostly children, with preliminary findings suggesting the attack may have come down to outdated US intelligence. The Pentagon has also faced heavy criticism over Operation Southern Sphere, its ongoing campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean that started in early September and has killed at least 186 people, including a “double tap” strike on Sept 2 where US forces hit a boat and then came back to kill survivors clinging to the wreckage. UN human rights experts and Democratic lawmakers have called the boat strike campaign illegal under international humanitarian law, and earlier this month a group of House Democrats filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth tied to alleged war crimes in the Iran conflict.

What’s going on now: While testifying on Capitol Hill, Secretary Hegseth was confronted by Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton over a March 13 press conference statement in which Hegseth said the US would give its enemies “no quarter, no mercy.” Moulton pointed out that an order for “no quarter” is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and is barred under US military code, then asked if Hegseth stood by it. Hegseth defended the statement, saying the Department of War “fights to win” and that warfighters need rules of engagement to be as effective as possible.

Moulton later told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” the same day that Hegseth was “absolutely” guilty of war crimes, citing both the boat strikes and the double-tap killing of survivors, and drew a comparison to Nazi submarine captains who were tried and executed after World War II for the same conduct.

Other takeaways from hearings: California Democrat Ro Khanna pressed Hegseth on the cost of the strike on the Iranian school in Minab, asking specifically how much American taxpayers had paid for the missiles used. Hegseth said the situation remained under investigation and added, “I wouldn’t tie a cost to that.” Analysts have identified the missiles used as US Tomahawks (which run about $3.6 million each), with the US firing more than 850 of them in the first month of the war.

Hegseth was back on the Hill Thursday for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, where he opened by calling Democratic lawmakers “reckless naysayers” and “defeatists from the cheap seats.” Senate Armed Services ranking Democrat Jack Reed argued the war has left the US in a worse strategic position with the Strait of Hormuz still closed, fuel prices through the roof, and American service members dead. Reed also told Hegseth, “I am concerned that you have been telling the president what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear,” and accused him of firing top military leaders disproportionately, noting that 60% of the roughly two dozen officers fired by Hegseth have been female or Black.

Hegseth pushed back, saying firings are based on performance and that previous Pentagon leaders “were focused on social engineering, race and gender in ways that we think were unhealthy for the department.”

Republicans on both committees gave Hegseth a much warmer reception, with Senate chairman Roger Wicker praising Trump’s handling of the war and the administration’s $1.5 trillion 2027 defense budget proposal, which would mark a historic boost in military spending and prioritize drones, missile defense systems, and warships.