Pete Hegseth: “American leadership is required.”

“The world has expressed a desire to be a part of this. As is often the case, or maybe almost always the case, American leadership is required. So the President was willing to undertake this. Send commercial ships through, send destroyers in, provide this red, white and blue bubble of protection and encourage the world to step up.” (1:01:52–1:01:54)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.