A gaggle of Senate Democrats are demanding extra details about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s funds and investments following a report — which the Pentagon demanded be retracted — that he could have tried to spend money on defense shares earlier than the war in Iran started roughly 5 weeks in the past.
“If this report is accurate, it would appear to represent an appalling effort to profit off of your knowledge of the President’s plans for war,” Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Duckworth, Jeff Merkley and Gary Peters wrote in a letter to Hegseth — and offered solely to ABC News — on Wednesday evening. “This would be a profound conflict of interest and a potential violation of your federal ethics agreement — and betrayal of the nation paying the price for this war and the troops you are sending into harm’s way.”
The Financial Times reported earlier this week {that a} dealer for Hegseth at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock — an fairness fund — and tried to make a multimillion-dollar investment right into a fund with defense shares weeks earlier than the Iran war.
The investment didn’t go ahead as a result of it was not but obtainable for Morgan Stanley purchasers, the Financial Times reported — including that it is not clear whether or not Hegseth’s dealer discovered one other defense fund to spend money on.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a briefing on the Pentagon in Washington, March 31, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
ABC News has not independently confirmed the Financial Times’ report.
When reached by ABC News, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock declined to touch upon the Financial Times report
In a post on X on Monday, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed the report calling it “entirely false and fabricated” and demanded a retraction from the Financial Times.
Still, the Democratic senators, led by Armed Services Committee member Warren, mentioned of their letter that if the report seems to be correct, it could be a “serious breach of the public’s trust” and in violation of the ethics settlement he signed ahead of his affirmation as secretary of defense.
“The American people deserve leaders they can trust to put national security ahead of their own financial self-interest,” the senators wrote to Hegseth.
Hegseth is prohibited, underneath the Department of Defense’s requirements of conduct, from proudly owning inventory in 10 main industry-specific firms together with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Boeing, RTX Corporation and L3Harris, that are half of the fund that the Financial Times article claims Hegseth’s dealer tried to buy.
Hegseth doesn’t have any main holdings in defense firms, in line with his most up-to-date monetary disclosure reviewed by ABC News.
“Since this was a multi-million dollar investment in a sector-specific fund, your agreement appears to indicate that your broker would have needed your approval or that you did not intend to meet the commitments you made in your ethics agreement,” the senators wrote.
The senators have requested Hegseth to answer a quantity of questions in regards to the Financial Times report.
They ask Hegseth to say whether or not he shared any info along with his dealer about pending navy motion or whether or not he directed his dealer to spend money on any defense associated funds, together with BlackRock because the Financial Times report suggests, ahead of the Iran war. They additionally ask what directions Hegseth has given his dealer to attempt to keep away from battle of pursuits they usually ask for an accounting of defense shares owned and bought by Hegseth and his spouse.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks throughout a press briefing on the Pentagon, March 31, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
In his assertion, Parnell mentioned that Hegseth and the Department of Defense “remain unwavering in their commitment to the highest standards of ethics and strict adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.”
The senators say that getting answers to their questions will assist them to “understand where there may be gaps in current department practices and policies to prevent conflicts of interest.”
House Democrats are additionally wanting into the allegations made about Hegseth within the Financial Times report.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the highest Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, introduced Tuesday that he’d launch an investigation into the matter.
Republicans haven’t been publicly commenting on Financial Times report. ABC News has reached out to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker for remark about Democrats’ requires an investigation, however didn’t obtain a response.
ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
Editor’s notice: This story has been up to date to mirror Sen. Jeff Merkley is one of the co-signers of the letter.
