Susan Rice, an ally of Barack Obama who served in multiple roles in both his and Joe Biden’s administrations, called Pete Hegseth ‘dumb as a rock’ after he fired her from a Pentagon policy board.
Rice, 60, was the United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations during Obama’s first term and served as his National Security Advisor for his second.
She also spent two years as the director of the Domestic Policy Council under Biden and has served as a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee at the Pentagon.
That was at least until this week, when Hegseth announced that members of all advisory committees were being removed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Speaking on a podcast earlier this week, Rice shot back at Hegseth, questioning his qualifications to be Defense Secretary on the basis of his identity.
‘If you’re a white, male, Christian, cisgender, macho MAGA man you can be as dumb as a rock and be deemed qualified to serve as Secretary of Defense,’ Rice said of Hegseth.
Hegseth has been under pressure in recent weeks as a mass exodus of staffers in the wake of the Signal group chat scandal continued with reports of Chief of Staff Joe Kasper leaving despite Hegseth saying earlier in the week he was just switching jobs.
Kasper joins Hegseth senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg who were ousted from the department last week, while Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot was asked to resign.
Susan Rice (pictured), an ally of Barack Obama who served in multiple roles in both his and Joe Biden ‘s administrations, called Pete Hegseth ‘dumb as a rock’ after he fired her from a Pentagon policy board
Hegseth (pictured) announced that members of all advisory committees were being removed earlier this week
Trump has continued to back Hegseth – despite a department investigation into staffers leaking information – but Rice said Friday that he should be fired and went even further, saying he never should’ve been running the Pentagon.
‘The reality is Hegseth compromised national security repeatedly, he is utterly irresponsible and reckless, he never should have been in that job in the first place, he was completely unqualified, and it’s past time that he go.’
However, Rice called it an example of how ‘rules apparently don’t apply to Trump and to his people, they only apply to his adversaries.’
She slammed Trump for running the country ‘as if he were a monarch and everybody is subservient to him, and anybody who criticizes or questions the actions or behavior of his team or himself are inherently the enemies.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
Rice is a career policy adviser and foreign affairs expert. She was former President Barack Obama’s Ambassador to the United Nations from 2009-2013 before becoming his National Security Advisor through the end of his tenure.
When Biden assumed office in January 2021, Rice was appointed as director of his Domestic Policy Council.
In the years between her time in the Obama and Biden White Houses, Rice served on Netflix’s board of directors starting in March 2018.
Rice served in the Obama administration and joined Biden’s team as director of the Domestic Policy Council
‘If you’re a white, male, Christian, cisgender, mach MAGA man you can be as dumb as a rock and be deemed qualified to serve as Secretary of Defense,’ Rice said of Hegseth
Rice faced some controversy during her time in the Biden White House.
In particular, she came under fire after a New York Times report earlier this month found that the Biden administration was aware of child labor law violations with migrant minors and either ignored or was slow to act to address it.
In 2021, Rice told White House staff she was frustrated with the child migrant situation.
The Biden administration scrambled to clear overflowing shelters, which led to children being released into the hands of sponsors who put them to work at grueling and, sometimes dangerous jobs.
Rice vented about the situation in a note she scribbled on a memo detailing the position of advocates, according to five people who worked with her.
‘This is BS,’ Rice wrote. ‘What is leading to ‘voluntary’ separation is our generosity to UCs [unaccompanied children]!’
Hegseth said that the committee firings such as Rice’s were made because ‘changes are needed to support the new strategic direction and policy priorities of the department and to ensure departmental resources are used efficiently.’
The Defense Secretary has been furious about leaks in the department, telling Fox News ‘I don’t have time for leakers’ or the ‘hoax press that peddles old stories from disgruntled employees.’
Hegseth has been under pressure in recent weeks as a mass exodus of staffers in the wake of the Signal group chat scandal continued with reports of Chief of Staff Joe Kasper (pictured) leaving despite Hegseth saying earlier in the week he was just switching jobs
‘Disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their a**,’ he said.
Among the leaks were details of his trip to the Panama Canal and a China briefing with Elon Musk that was ultimately canceled personally by President Trump himself according to reports.
Former Pentagon spokesperson John Ullyot published an op-ed in Politico claiming that the first month of Hegseth’s leadership was ‘a month of total chaos’ and warned that his days were numbered in the Pentagon.
Hegseth was dismissive of Ullyot’s op-ed, pointing to unprofessional behavior.
‘Anybody that knows John knows why we let him go. We did a lot of favors for John. He did some good work up front, then he was moved along,’ he told Fox News.
Hegseth acknowledged that the investigation was disruptive as it pointed at longtime advisors but reasserted he was committed to stopping the leaks.
‘It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security, the president of the United States, and let the investigation go where it is,’ he said.
He vowed to remain in his job as long as he continued to have the president’s support.
‘I haven’t blinked, and I won’t blink because this job is too big and too important for the American people and I’m grateful for every opportunity the president has given me,’ he said.