Speaker 1: Pentagon facing major questions tonight about reports of American sailors
Speaker 1: jumping overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has now
Speaker 1: been deployed in the Middle East for two hundred sixty
Speaker 1: six days. It's about nine months nine months deployed, two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty of those days not even with a
Speaker 1: land stop. This is because they are in the middle
Speaker 1: of Trump's war with Iran, and that war is taking
Speaker 1: a toll on sailors aboard who've complained about not having
Speaker 1: enough food. They've literally gone hungry, and we've heard these complaints.
Speaker 1: The lack of basic necessities that includes toothpaste, deodorant, soap,
Speaker 1: and all of those things add up with an incredibly
Speaker 1: long deployment that keeps getting extended to dangerously low morale.
Speaker 1: There are five thousand American sailors on board, and sources
Speaker 1: tonight confirmed to CNN that at least one sailor did
Speaker 1: in fact go overboard earlier this month. That sailor was
Speaker 1: ultimately rescued. And that follows a shocking Military Times exclusive report,
Speaker 1: which we detailed on out Front last night, about multiple
Speaker 1: attempts by crew members to jump off the ship. One
Speaker 1: woman who has pride to jump, telling the Military Times
Speaker 1: he's scared. He thinks he'll get a dishonorable discharge and
Speaker 1: just because he was burnt out, his thirteen year career
Speaker 1: is ruined, just like that. But tonight, the Defense Secretary
Speaker 1: Pete Hegseth is denying the reports, saying they're simply untrue.
Speaker 1: Listen to what he told News Max when questioned about
Speaker 1: the reporting while traveling in Panama.
Speaker 2: Completely misrepresented. Because we make sure at every ship, every crew,
Speaker 2: every captain has everything we can provide them at every
Speaker 2: single moment.
Speaker 1: Well, that is not what our Pamela Brown, who was
Speaker 1: on board the USS Abraham Lincoln last month, heard from
Speaker 1: some sailors on board. Here's what they told her.
Speaker 2: Actually, I would say, we're all's pretty low, and not
Speaker 2: just in the division like I'm in the ship entirely.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: Personally, what helps me is I go to the gym.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm I'm trying to better myself in every day.
Speaker 4: But it's hard.
Speaker 2: The food.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you heard the food was pretty bad.
Speaker 3: For a couple of months. We were surviving on not
Speaker 3: a lot, and it takes a lot.
Speaker 4: To push through, persevere, keep going you want. It gets hard.
Speaker 1: Well, you heard what he told Pam there that you
Speaker 1: heard about the food. There's a time there was not
Speaker 1: a lot. And in April the USA Today did publish
Speaker 1: a story about sailors on board going hungry. At the time,
Speaker 1: hag Seth dismissed those reports too, We called them fake news.
Speaker 4: But you just heard the crew member there.
Speaker 1: And it is therefore perhaps not a surprise that families
Speaker 1: with loved ones on board the USS Abraham Lincoln are
Speaker 1: privately warning each other not to speak out up front.
Speaker 1: Is learning from the Military Times and Natalie Olaverio, who
Speaker 1: broke all of this, that the families fear that if
Speaker 1: they reveal any more details about the disturbing conditions, it
Speaker 1: could result in punishment for their loved ones, which.
Speaker 4: Adds to the low morale aboard the Lincoln.
Speaker 1: But if you ask Defense Secretary heg Seth about his
Speaker 1: strategy for boosting morale, even though he denies that there's
Speaker 1: any problem whatsoever, I guess, to the extent he does
Speaker 1: address it, He's put out videos like this lifting weights,
Speaker 1: working out with US troops, talking about upping testosterone levels
Speaker 1: for social media, apparently in an effort to I guess,
Speaker 1: boost morale Natalie Olaverio, the Military Times Pentagon reporter. I
Speaker 1: mentioned her a few moments ago. She has been breaking
Speaker 1: all of these details on the USS Lincoln. She's also
Speaker 1: a Navy veteran, and Natalie, I'm glad to have you back,
Speaker 1: and I know you've got more information tonight. The Defense
Speaker 1: Secretary Pete hag Seth today though, says your report about
Speaker 1: poor conditions right you were talking specifically people you had
Speaker 1: spoken to who's loved ones had tried to jump overboard
Speaker 1: about the shortages of food and soap and basic materials deodorant.
Speaker 1: He calls it completely misrepresented. So I wanted to give
Speaker 1: you a chance to respond to what he's saying.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me back, Aaron. It's great to be here,
Speaker 3: and I appreciate the opportunity to respond. It's not really
Speaker 3: me that he's responding to. It's the countless sailors who
Speaker 3: have reached out to Military Times and to other news
Speaker 3: outlets they trust with their organic photos. Parents who are
Speaker 3: sharing native chat sessions with their kids, spouses doing the same.
Speaker 3: These are not fabrications, they're not stretches at the truth.
Speaker 3: Like you mentioned back in April when the USA Today
Speaker 3: broke out pictures on the mess decks of what any
Speaker 3: American would quantify as an adequate nutrition for our service
Speaker 3: members and are all volunteer force of service members who
Speaker 3: are in extraordinary conditions right now. I think gaslighting our
Speaker 3: force is disrespectful and at a minimum, they deserve transparency
Speaker 3: and accountability.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at a minimum, And you speak as a Navy veteran,
Speaker 1: of course, Natalie, so I guess in that context, I
Speaker 1: want to ask you about what hag said, what appears
Speaker 1: to be his strategy for booty morale, and of course
Speaker 1: he denies it's a problem, but to the extent you
Speaker 1: know that he's trying to motivate people, right there's the
Speaker 1: videos he's posting on social media where he's lifting weights
Speaker 1: there and he's working out with US troops, or he
Speaker 1: posted that post that of course you've seen about. You know,
Speaker 1: we're going to be testing testosterone and upping the testosterone.
Speaker 4: Levels for our force.
Speaker 1: How is all that landing with actual crew members and
Speaker 1: members of the Navy rockily?
Speaker 3: I think some service members are concerned because altering your hormones,
Speaker 3: they come with a host of issues that not everyone
Speaker 3: can predict, so not everyone is really riled up for
Speaker 3: more testosterone. There are a lot of service members who
Speaker 3: find it to be really contradictory and unfair in the
Speaker 3: face of rejecting gender affirming care and other areas of
Speaker 3: the military. But I can tell you from my experience
Speaker 3: that morale makes a difference on way morale has been
Speaker 3: planned for for decades, such as when you're.
Speaker 5: Out at sea for forty five days, you get to
Speaker 5: have two beers, you get to have a steel beach
Speaker 5: picnic where you put down the nets on the flight deck,
Speaker 5: maybe take a swim call, put on some music, get
Speaker 5: cozy on the non skid and just.
Speaker 3: You know, have some time to gather camaraderie. Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: combat operations. Maybe it's not sunshine and steel beach picnics,
Speaker 3: but we can do a whole lot better knowing that
Speaker 3: these morale milestones are the markers service members and sailors
Speaker 3: look forward to to get them through some of the
Speaker 3: most strenuous and difficult times underway.
Speaker 4: Senator, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Hagsath says today that these reports aboard the ship are
Speaker 1: completely misrepresented by the way. I'll just remind everybody that
Speaker 1: you know, for example, when it came to Trump getting
Speaker 1: off Air Force one and the catering car. You know,
Speaker 1: all that was completely denied as false too, and of
Speaker 1: course it was true. So you know, they deny things
Speaker 1: whether they're true or not. So it's hard to know.
Speaker 1: But he says, the troops have everything they need, even though,
Speaker 1: of course we've seen the images of inadequate food. You
Speaker 1: heard the sailor there speaking to our Pamela Brown. So
Speaker 1: do you believe anything that hag Seth is saying.
Speaker 2: Heggseth trying to characterize these powerful, credible reports as fake
Speaker 2: news is really a disservice and profoundly disrespectful to the
Speaker 2: sailors who are on the USS Abraham Lincoln and enduring
Speaker 2: these hardships. They are more than just quality of life threats.
Speaker 2: Lack of sufficient food, toothpaste, soap, hot water. Okay, that's
Speaker 2: quality of life maybe, but it affects morale and it
Speaker 2: exacerbates stress, which is reflected in that sailor going overboard.
Speaker 2: But anyone who's familiar with how an aircraft carrier operates
Speaker 2: knows that these jobs are highly su stressful, requiring stamina.
Speaker 2: As these fighter jets land on an area that looks
Speaker 2: like a postage stamp, as they begin their descent. And
Speaker 2: these sailors, whether they are on the deck or below
Speaker 2: doing mechanics, or at the surveillance systems fending off possible attacks,
Speaker 2: are all under tremendous dress and doing work that can
Speaker 2: be highly dangerous if they are either distracted or demoralized.
Speaker 2: So it's a real strategic issue. And remember also that
Speaker 2: there are reports now that the USS Washington is on
Speaker 2: its way to replace or relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln finally,
Speaker 2: after a record of two hundred plus days without even
Speaker 2: a port call, without setting foot on ground, well, the
Speaker 2: USS Washington is being taken away from its forward position
Speaker 2: in the Far East. So the endless war of impulse
Speaker 2: without strategy and exit plan is having a toll on
Speaker 2: our military readiness.