Up First from NPR
Hegseth Scrutiny, Jan 6th Pipe Bomb Suspect, Texas Redistricting Ruling
05 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What recent actions have raised scrutiny for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth?
Lawmakers saw video of a second U.S.
strike on a boat in the Caribbean. And the public has seen a report on the defense secretary sharing sensitive information. What have we learned? And what questions remain?
I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. Federal agents accused a suspect of planting two pipe bombs on the eve of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Let me be clear. There was no new tip. There was no new witness. Just good, diligent police work.
What led investigators to him? Also, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court to side with Texas Republicans. The lower court found that a new congressional map probably discriminated by race. What reasons did the court give to set that aside? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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Chapter 2: Who is the suspect arrested for planting the January 6th pipe bombs?
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Members of Congress have now seen a video showing the second U.S. strike on a boat in the Caribbean. Democrats and Republicans interpreted it differently, but a few things became clear.
Democrats said they were disturbed by the second hit on a boat allegedly carrying drugs, killing two men after the boat was disabled. Republicans said the strike was justified because the two survivors of the first strike might have continued on to their destination. Yet even Republicans described the survivors in a desperate situation.
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said the survivors were, quote, trying to flip a boat, suggesting the boat had capsized after a U.S. missile strike, which other lawmakers confirmed.
That is one of two big stories focused on the Pentagon and NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is covering both. Tom, good morning. Hey, Steve. Okay, so let's get this other story out of the way first.
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Chapter 3: What evidence led to the arrest of the January 6th pipe bomb suspect?
An inspector general report is now public about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharing information about an attack on the Signal texting app. What did you learn by reading the report?
Well, it said that two to four hours before the airstrikes by American F-18 pilots, Secretary Hegseth, he was getting a classified briefing from General Eric Carrillo about the upcoming attacks on Houthi rebels. A lot of detail about the number of planes, the targets, the timing.
And while Hegseth was getting this, he was sharing it on a signal chat with other officials and on another chat with his wife, his brother and his lawyer. None of those three had security clearances and All of this was secret information, the report said.
And let's just disclose, as we do, that NPR CEO Catherine Maher also chairs the board of the Signal Foundation, which has a subsidiary that makes this app. But what has been the reaction to the inspector general?
Well, Secretary Hegseth's spokesman said the IG report exonerates him. That is not true. Nothing in the 76 pages says anything close to that. It does say that the Pentagon should be aware of proper procedures on the handling of classified information. It only states facts, Steve, not what should happen next.
All right. So let's now talk about this second strike on the boat in the Caribbean. What are lawmakers saying and what are you learning now that they have seen this video and also heard from the commander involved?
Well, Admiral Mitch Bradley, the top commander overseeing Central and South America, appeared behind closed doors to explain what happened. Lawmakers said he defended that second missile strike, saying basically the survivors of the initial strike were still kind of being active there. trying to reach their comrades by radio, trying to corral drugs on the boat that was nearly destroyed.
So Bradley, again, ordered this second missile strike to kill them and then two more to sink the boat. Secretary Hegseth said he was only there for the first missile strike on the boat and didn't see the others. He had meetings, he said. Now, lawmakers are asking, you know, did the second missile strike result in an illegal killing, a war crime?
Because, Steve, the Pentagon's Law of War manual lays out what is an illegal order that no service member has to obey. And the manual has this example. Get this. Quote, for example, orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.
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Chapter 4: What findings were revealed in the Pentagon's inspector general report?
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Today's Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Anna Yukoninoff, Ben Swayze, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer... is Jay Shaler. Join us next time.