Jon Ossoff Cuts Through the Lies

Question by question, the profile of Georgia's senior senator is rising

Sen. Jon Ossoff questioned Jay Clayton, Trump nominee for director of national intelligence, last week. (Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

All of a sudden, there are rumblings about Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff as a presidential contender. An Emerson College poll, released yesterday, highlighted him as one of the frontrunners with 13 percent, outranked only by Pete Buttigieg (19 percent) and Gavin Newsom (17 percent) and tied with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He was ahead of Kamala Harris (8 percent), Josh Shapiro (5 percent) and JB Pritzker (3 percent).

Of course, as we are months away from the midterms and more than two years from the 2028 presidential election, comments about “Ossoff 2028!” and comparisons with Barack Obama—however sincere—do not even begin to account for all the twists and turns between here and there. The last thing I want to spend your time on now is contemplating who will be serious presidential candidates in 2028.

But there’s a more meaningful lens in which to view Sen. Ossoff right now—and that concerns both his penetrating ability to question Trump operatives when they appear before the Senate and the obvious moral fervor with which he responds to the sickeningly corrupt officials determined to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. Ossoff is connecting because Americans are hungry to overcome this shameful chapter.

Let’s take a closer look at why Ossoff’s questioning has been so effective. On Tuesday, he faced off with so-called ‘War’ Secretary Pete Hegseth who came before the Senate appropriations committee with his hat in his hand: He was seeking $454 billion in additional military funding for 2027 and $67 billion in emergency funding. This is on top of a current trillion-dollar Pentagon budget and, according to Hegseth, an estimated $37.5 billion already spent on the Iran war. (Other accounts of Iran costs are much higher.)

Ossoff took his minutes to zero in on Hegseth’s arrogant bloviating about the war’s “historic” success in order to expose the fallaciousness of his assertions and the lack of credibility for any new demands. Allow me to provide a precise and extended account (you can also watch it here):

Ossoff: On day 14 of this conflict, Mr. Secretary, day 14, nearly five months ago, you stated that Iran’s military had been, quote, destroyed, and, quote, made combat-ineffective. That was on day 14 of the war. Was that an accurate statement?

Hegseth: They didn't have a Navy any longer. It was completely sunk. Their missiles were buried underneath a lot of their underground facilities, and their defense industrial base has been Almost completely destroyed. So as far as a military assessment of Iran's capabilities, it didn't mean by any stretch of the imagination absolute zero.

Ossoff: Mr. Secretary, you stated that on day 14 of this conflict, on the second week of the conflict, you stated that Iran’s military had been, ‘destroyed,’ and, ‘made combat-ineffective.’ Was that an accurate statement? Yes or no?

Hegseth: Iran’s ability to challenge the United States of America at the level at which we’re capable of—

Ossoff: That’s not what I asked you, Mr. Secretary. You said on day 14, Iran's military had been, quote, destroyed, and, quote, made combat ineffective. Yes or no? Was that an accurate statement?

Hegseth: What the American military has done to the Iranian military…

Ossoff: Will you answer the question?

Hegseth: …is a historic military defeat…

Ossoff: Will you answer the question under oath?

Hegseth: … and they’re ineffective in that context.

The Georgia senator was not done. He was determined, in his cool and calm manner to strip away the the phony bravado of Killer Pete who’s convinced that his “warrior ethos” frees him from operating in the world of facts and truth.

Ossoff: Three weeks later you declared victory. That was now nearly four months ago. Three weeks after you had already said Iran’s military was destroyed and combat-ineffective. You said, quote, Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory. You said Iran’s military had been rendered, quote, combat-ineffective for years to come. And you stated we had, quote, achieved every single objective. Were those accurate statements?

Hegseth: It certainly was, on behalf of the men and women in uniform, a historic military victory over Iran.

Ossoff: Had Iran's military been rendered, quote, combat ineffective for years to come? That was a statement that you made four months ago.

Hegseth: They had 160 naval vessels…

Ossoff: You need to answer the questions, Mr. Secretary.

Ossoff kept flaying Hegseth, including this tasty morsel: “You stated on March 8th, day 9 of the war, on 60 Minutes, you assured the American people of Iranians’ surrender. Does that remain your prediction?” Ossoff’s interrogation concluded like this:

Ossoff: So just to review You will not answer whether your statement made on the 14th day of the war that Iran’s military had been, quote, destroyed and made combat ineffective was a truthful statement to the American people as you sit here and ask for tens of billions more for the conflict.

Susan Collins: The senator’s time has expired.

Hegseth: But a historic and effective military campaign against the largest state sponsor of terrorism…

Ossoff: Won’t answer the question.

Then, in response to Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the now-rattled Hegseth was in full meltdown mode: “I think your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure is reckless. And I think it's irresponsible.” Hegseth went on like this for awhile, his cool bravado long gone.

But Peters, in a solid follow-up to his Georgia colleague, served up his closing line. “Secretary Hegseth, you have over a trillion dollars. You're asking for one and a half trillion dollars,” he said. “It's not a question of money. It's a question of leadership and understanding what it takes to actually win.”

This was no one-off day for Ossoff. As I described last week when the cowardly Jay Clayton refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence:

Over and over he was asked by Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff who won the 2020 election and over and over Clayton refused to answer in obvious fear of crossing Trump and having his nomination pulled. As Ossoff summarized the problem at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, ‘You refuse to answer a basic question about who won a presidential election. But you ask to lead America’s intelligence community. Isn’t it humiliating to be unable to answer this question—to have to indulge the president’s delusions?’

Jon Ossoff was born in 1987. Before pursuing politics, this 39-year-old senator—now polling 9 points ahead of his Trump-endorsed rival Mike Collins for his re-election—was leading a London-based production company that makes global documentaries focused on government corruption, organized crime and war crimes.

Clearly, he learned both how to tell a story about such matters and to not back down in the face of danger and attacks. In this time in our history, these are skills that can serve a morally minded leader well.

I leave you with one last thing. Before Trump’s lie-filled speech about China’s impact on the 2020 election, Ossoff summarized to reporters what he expected in a jam-packed single sentence: “The world’s most famous sore loser will deliver a primetime presidential sour-grapes address to pursue his six-year-old grievances about the 2020 election, while his war in the Middle East spirals out of control and the cost of living continues to rise for Americans across the country.”

Is it any surprise that the thin-skinned Trump tried to counter-punch, calling the young, cool and handsome senator a “communist” and that he looked like “Pinky” Herman. He meant Pee-wee Herman, Paul Reubens’ famous character, thereby exposing not only his own cognitive decline but also his shallow mind.

Ossoff has said that he won’t be running for higher office in 2028. We’ll see. But if he is re-elected, he will have plenty of opportunity in the next two years to show what happens when corruption meets competence and courage.

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