Powerful Senator Roger Wicker said newly minted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a ‘rookie mistake’ during his remarks about the war in Ukraine and its borders this week.
Wicker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke with Politico alongside the Munich Security Conference where world leaders are gathered in Germany.
‘Hegseth is going to be a great defense secretary, although he wasn’t my choice for the job,’ the GOP senator told the publication.
‘But he made a rookie mistake in Brussels, and he’s walked back some of what he said but not that line,’ Wicker (R-Miss.) added.
Hegseth, a former TV personality turned Pentagon chief, turned heads on Wednesday when he said it was ‘unrealistic’ for Ukraine to return to its pre-war borders.
He made the comment while speaking with Ukraine military allies at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
‘We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine, but we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,’ he told officials.
Wicker, who is a strong supporter of Ukraine, blasted the remarks on Friday.
‘I don’t know who wrote the speech — it is the kind of thing Tucker Carlson could have written, and Carlson is a fool,’ he said, referencing another former Fox News host who has been pro-Russia in his podcast.
Wicker told Politico on Friday in Munich that he was ‘surprised’ by Hegseth’s remarks and ‘heartened’ to see him walk them back.
‘PPeople in the administration know you don’t say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won’t agree to,’ Wicker said.
Hegseth appeared to reverse the remark while speaking to reporters on Thursday when he said ‘everything is on the table’ when it comes to negotiations between Ukraine and Russia as the Trump administration pushed for a peace deal.
But he then doubled down on his Wednesday comments on Friday, contradicting Wicker’s assertion that he walked them back.
A reporter at Hegseth’s press conference with the Polish defense minister asked him about the Ukraine border and whether he thinks it is possible to return to pre-war borders.
Hegseth said ‘anything is possible’ but he claimed he was being realistic in the conversation by suggesting ‘the reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely.’
‘I stand by the comments that I made on that first day in the Ukraine Contact Group, and that’s for all the press out there, who it’s difficult for them to understand that,’ Hegseth said defensively.
The comments and criticism come as Trump pushed for negotiations this week between Ukraine and Russia.
‘We would have Ukraine, and we have Russia, and we’ll have other people involved, a lot of people,’ Trump said Thursday.
The president also said he ‘trusts’ Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Wednesday, Trump publicly acknowledged the first call with the White House and Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022 and signaled the U.S. effort to isolate Russia is ending.
The president said the two would visit each other’s countries and would likely meet in Saudi Arabia in the near future.