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The Situation Room

Trump Addresses Senior Military Officials at Quantico; Hegseth Addresses Senior Military Leaders. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 30, 2025 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- you're going to be -- you're the most lethal fighting force in the world. And I would say that even two, three years ago, but now I say it with great enthusiasm. It's so true.

And we're striving tirelessly to end the terrible war in Ukraine. And, as you know, we're also working hard to get the Allies to share more of the burden of our defense. Much of that has really already taken place. But all NATO members have committed to the increase that I talked about. Think of that. That was unthinkable. It used to be 1 percent, then we got it up to 2 in my last term. And they did not like it. And now, we got it to 5. And I get along great with all of them. In fact, they call me the president of NATO. I said, I don't think so.

But they're great. They're great people. And they're spending a lot of money, and a lot of money that they should have been spending in the past. But I think Putin was a wake-up call for them, really.

We're now selling large quantities of American-made weapons to NATO, and we're getting really fair pricing. We're making a lot of money. It's my hope that from Europe to Asia to the Middle East, our allies will make similar commitments to increase their military capabilities. And this will greatly strengthen our alliances, and also, it will make war far less likely.

You know, if you have a strong -- if you're a strong presence, like we are, we are such a strong presence now. And I go around bragging about that. I said, we have the strongest military anywhere in the world. I say -- you never heard Biden say that. Never heard him say anything. But you never heard him say -- did he ever hear him say, we have the strongest military? He doesn't say that. I say it. We have the strongest military anywhere in the world. We have great leadership.

And I'll tell you, Pete and General Caine, all of the people that I've met that have been lifted up in rank -- and we got many of them out of here, too, I'll be honest with you. Didn't like doing it, but we got many of you out of here because we weren't satisfied. We have -- we know everything about everybody. It will also help the United States rapidly rebuild our defense industrial base. Each of you can play an important part in getting allies to do their part.

So, to that end, Secretary Hegseth will soon be announcing major reforms to streamline military acquisitions and expedite foreign military sales. We have tremendous numbers of countries that want to buy our equipment. And you know --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're in the Situation Room. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown.

We've all been listening for more than an hour now to President Trump addressing senior U.S. military officers over at Quantico, Virginia. This was a rare gathering of top U.S. military brass from around the world.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: As you heard there, President Trump spoke after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who boasted about America's military strength. He also decried past policies in that department and vowed to restore a, quote, "male standard" of physicality in combat positions.

Joining us now is a group of experts to talk about all of this. We have Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath, who is a former Marine combat fighter pilot. She's also a former Democratic candidate for Senate in Kentucky. Also, with us, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz and former Defense Secretary under President Clinton, William Cohen.

BLITZER: Secretary Cohen, let me start with you. You and I have known each other for a long time. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, as you know, told senior officers at Quantico just a little while ago to, quote, "do the honorable thing," do the honorable thing and resign if they do not agree with his approach to leading the U.S. military. How do you view that?

WILLIAM COHEN, CEO, THE COHEN GROUP AND FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I think that's what the uniformed military would do. All of those senior officers, if they cannot follow the directions of the president of the United States or the secretary of defense, then they should resign. I think most of those in the room today and most of those that I have known, and I have to commend all of them over the years, thank you for what you have given to this country. You are not simply a bad and inferior military. You've been superior throughout your lives.

And those people at that meeting, they have dedicated their lives to rise from one-star, two-star, three stars, four stars. They are all there and they have been there for years and they've been great all over those years, not just now. So, I want to commend the president for saying thank you, because we owe them a great deal of debt.

In addition to that, this whole notion of wokeness, was it wokeness that said that we should integrate the military and Harry Truman did that? Was it wokeness? We said the Tuskegee Airmen contributed mightily to our World War II effort. Was it wokeness that allowed Colin Powell to become the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs? Is that wokeness? Is it wokeness that you had General Charles -- I forget his last name in a moment, but Charles Brown, he was appointed by the president. He had 130 combat hours. He was top gunner at the station. And now, he's saying, well, he was just maybe debris. Was Charles Brown debris? I don't think so.

[10:35:00]

But in any event, I think the president has some very good points. We want to be the strongest military in the world. We want to have the finest service. But we have to understand it's not only a question of brawn, it's also a question of brainpower. We now have women who can fly our most sophisticated aircraft. They can fly our drones. They can sail our biggest ships. Women compose almost 17, 17.5 percent of our military. Are they to be discouraged from serving in capacities where they can move up in rank and be seen as leaders in the future? If you're black, are you presumed to be inferior because we haven't had a black chairman of the Joint Chiefs in the past until Colin Powell?

So, we need to treat people on the merits. And I believe that. We should not be engaged in any kind of discrimination for someone if he's not qualified or she's not qualified. But I think we have the finest fighting force in the world. And I agree with the president on that.

BROWN: Well, that is the perfect segue to Lieutenant Colonel McGrath. Again, you were a former combat pilot. Hegseth said that combat troops will have to meet the, quote, ""highest male standard." I want to watch -- listen to what he said and then talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Each service will ensure that every requirement for every combat MOS for every designated combat arms position returns to the highest male standard only. Because this job is life or death. Standards must be met. And not just met, at every level we should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what we do. It should be in our DNA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, as a former woman, Marine combat pilot yourself, what is your reaction to that?

LT. COL. AMY MCGRATH, MARINE COMBAT FIGHTER PILOT (RET.): Well, Pete Hegseth still has a lot to learn, I think, unfortunately. When I flew my combat missions, there was not a set male standard and a female standard for flying an aircraft onto the back of an aircraft carrier. You can either do it or you can't. And so, I feel like it's the notion of standing up there and saying to the generals and admirals, who all, by the way, know that there are -- there were never separate combat standards for males and females.

You know, combat jobs have had one standard for a long time. And part of when we opened combat jobs to women, those of us that were in those jobs wanted one standard to be set. And it was. So, I think it's kind of ridiculous. But honestly, that in comparison to the rest of what we heard in the last hour is really minor. That speech was bonkers by the president. And everybody sitting in that room knows that, that we don't have a coherent foreign policy or defense policy. And that, I think, is a bigger issue. BLITZER: Indeed. Lieutenant General Schwartz, I want to get your thoughts on this specific comment from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the perception of the Defense Department right now. Watch and listen, and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: It's tiring to look out at combat formations or really any formation and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country in the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and it's not who we are.

So, whether you're an airborne ranger or a chairborne ranger, a brand- new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass your PT test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, what do you think? Is that a sound priority for the Secretary of Defense to explain right now?

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ, U.S. ARMY (RET.) AND FORMER U.S. SECURITY COORDINATOR FOR ISRAEL AND PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: Well, Wolf, I think for the audience in that room, they understand that, they understood the importance of leading by, you know, personal example, personal presence throughout the rank structure in the military, even prior to this venue today. So, you know, I think that the Secretary of War wanted to emphasize that. And I'm sure that there's, you know, millions of troops and service members listening to those remarks. But again, I don't think that standard that he laid out, the merit-based promotion system that he laid out, is contrary, frankly, to my experience in the military or what the expectations were of me as a military leader throughout my military career.

[10:40:00]

BROWN: Yes. I think that's an important context because the way that it was portrayed is that there had been decades of decay, essentially. And so, I think it is important for our audience to understand what was happening, what is happening now, and also what's going on when it comes to training recruits. Because you heard Secretary Cohen, Hegseth says, he wants to reform how training is done. Let's listen and then talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: Basic training is being restored to what it should be. Scary, tough, and disciplined. We're empowering drill sergeants to instill healthy fear in new recruits, ensuring that future warfighters are forged. Yes, they can shark attack. They can toss bunks. They can swear. And yes, they can put their hands on recruits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you make of those comments from the defense secretary? COHEN: I'm not sure what he is suggesting there. Do I want to see our troops be fit and conform to the best standard possible, both in grooming and also in physical capability? Absolutely. But the question is, do you want your soldiers to operate under fear or through admiration? I'd like to think that leadership is a combination. Yes, you want to fear that you may be punished for something you don't measure up to, but you also want to admire the people who are leading you.

And if the -- if we're doing that, if that's what he's saying, I don't have a problem with it. But I think the notion you're going to start using physical punishment for individuals, I don't know that he's saying that. But the implication being that if you've done something wrong, you'd expect a very physical response. I don't think he's saying that. I hope not.

But in any event, I agree with what he's saying in terms of greater physicality. I want to see that. I wanted to see it when I was there. And I tried to emulate that by going to the gym every day to be with the officers who are over at the Pentagon. So, I think it's a good thing. In terms of beyond what he's saying, I think it's open to doubt.

BLITZER: Lieutenant General Schwartz, let me bring you back into this conversation. We heard the security concerns of pulling these leaders from their posts and assembling them all in one place at Quantico on this day. In your view, was this gathering, the speeches -- the two speeches that they just heard from Hegseth and the president, worth the risk of bringing all these three- and four-star generals and admirals over to Quantico today from around the world to hear what they had to say?

SCHWARTZ: Well, I think the commands across the globe that -- you know, all the combatant commands, regional combatant commands, they're well-manned and certainly there's near real-time, if not real-time communications with the commands that these flag officers and general officers came from to be in this venue. So, in terms of risk, Wolf, I don't see it as a real risk. I think this was an opportunity for the Secretary of War to speak largely to those that lead our military.

I certainly participated in this at the Army level when the chief would call us back in from, you know, around the globe absent of combat deployments or if you were leading combat formations to do this. So, I don't see a great risk of this.

Again, this is about unity of message and making sure that all the leadership within the military, within the War Department and those that, you know, lead our servicemen and women around the globe understand his intent and the president's. Although, some of the comments by the POTUS, if you're a military person sitting in a room when the Secretary of War stresses the importance of being apolitical, some of the political rhetoric, you know, makes you uncomfortable.

BROWN: I want to bring you back in, Lieutenant Colonel McGrath, to get your reaction to what the president said about the suggestion that the military should use cities like Chicago, which he described as a, quote, "dangerous city," as a, quote, "training ground" for troops. What do you make of that?

MCGRATH: Yes, that to me was the most scary part of the entire speech. I mean, there was a lot of rambling. There was a ton of lies. There was a lot of politicization, as was just mentioned, and some of the craziness that you heard from the speech. But the scariest part was when the president talked about using the military and using our cities as a training ground for the United States military.

Now, the military has done training in cities before, but that's not what I think he's talking about here. He's talking about using the military in ways that we should not see in America. And I'm very worried about this. I think that the whole part of bringing these generals and admirals back here was to discuss this type of thing. And it should scare us all. This is something that we just don't do in America.

[10:45:00]

We have police forces to fight crime, and we should be, you know, putting money into those police forces, not sending American troops that are trained for war to American cities.

BLITZER: Secretary William Cohen, Lieutenant Colonel Amy McGrath, Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, to all of you, thank you very much. And especially thanks for all your service over these many, many years.

We're going to have much more coverage of all of the major developments right now, right after a quick break. Stay with us. You're in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of President Trump's address. We just heard it to senior U.S. military officers at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia.

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale for a fact check. All right. Daniel, what stood out to you?

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: There were just so many false claims. And I say that after essentially every speech, unfortunately, from President Donald Trump. But I think this is notable because of the audience. He was telling a lot of lies, saying a lot of other inaccurate things regardless of his intentions to the U.S.'s top military leaders.

So, I want you to listen to something he said about former President Joe Biden and Biden's comments about the U.S. military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I go around bragging about that, I said, we have the strongest military anywhere in the world. I say -- you never heard Biden say that. Never heard him say anything. But you never heard him say -- did you ever hear him say, we have the strongest military? He doesn't say that. I say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: President Biden said that over and over. This took me about five seconds to find on Google. One sample quote from 2023, our U.S. military, and this is not hyperbole, I've said it for the last two years, is the strongest military in the history of the world, not just the strongest in the world, in the history of the world. So, this is just one of many such quotes from President Biden.

And he made another false claim about President Biden and the military, falsely claiming at another point in the speech today that President Biden had suggested early in his term that he could get rid of the Space Force established under President Trump. Listen to that quote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Space Force turned out to be a very important thing. I said from the beginning, you know, when Biden came into office, he wanted to terminate it. And he said -- and this thing called Space Force, so we could get rid of that. And he got hammered by the people in this room for even suggesting it, because it's very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DALE: President Biden never said that. President Biden never said that, that did not happen. What did happen in the first weeks of President Biden's term is that his then-White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, offered what seemed to be a snarky or dismissive response to a question about what Biden planned to do about the future of Space Force, but that wasn't Biden himself. Even Psaki never said he was going to get rid of it. And she said the very next day that they were not getting rid of Space Force, that they would preserve it. So, those are just two of a whole bunch of false claims from President Trump today.

He also repeated his usual lie that the 2020 election involving him and Biden was rigged. Of course, he lost fair and square. He repeated this lie that he tells over and over that the Congo and Venezuela both emptied their prisons to somehow allow prisoners to come to the United States as migrants. There was no evidence that any of that happened. President Trump's own team has never been able to offer any corroboration. And I've spoken to independent experts on both the Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela, who have seen -- who have said they've seen nothing to support any of that. President Trump again repeated this claim.

We've been hearing from him that Biden let in 25 million migrants. That's up from President Trump's former claim of 21 million. Even that was false. So, the actual number is less than half of that, even if you count the millions who were rapidly expelled from the country under COVID-era immigration provisions. So, not even close. President Trump again said that President Biden provided $350 billion worth of aid to Ukraine. That's also not even close, even generously by independent expert estimates. The actual number is about half that. And we also heard President Trump repeat this claim he made at the United Nations the other day that he has settled seven wars.

But even the examples that President Trump cited himself show that that claim is not true. For example, he mentioned the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, well, the war involving those two countries has not actually been settled, despite a peace agreement signed under President Trump, the hostilities continue. We have good reporting from the ground. CNN was there last week showing that the fighting continues. And the peace agreement that was signed under Trump did not involve the rebel coalition allegedly backed by Rwanda that's doing much of the fighting.

He also mentioned Kosovo and Serbia as a supposed war he has ended. Well, they have not actually been at war under President Trump. He previously claimed that he prevented a new war from erupting, there's thin evidence even for that. But the claim that he ended an actual war between those two entities is just not correct.

BROWN: All right. Daniel Dale, always bringing the facts.

BLITZER: He knows what he's talking about.

BROWN: He sure does.

BLITZER: He's good.

BROWN: Thanks so much, Daniel.

BLITZER: All right. Daniel, thanks for me as well. And just ahead, shutdown, countdown. With no deal in sight right now, all signs are pointing to a government shutdown tonight at midnight. Democratic House leaders speaking just moments ago. We're live up on Capitol Hill with all the late breaking developments.

[10:55:00]

BROWN: And then later, we're going to be joined by the mayor of Chicago as the Trump administration is preparing to deploy 100 National Guard troops to Illinois. You're in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Happening now, breaking news. Any moment now from the Oval Office, President Trump is expected to make a critical announcement about drug prices. We will bring that you live.

BLITZER: We certainly will. And we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And you're in the Situation Room.

[11:00:00]