Trump’s defense deputy secretary pick avoids saying Russia invaded Ukraine

President Donald Trump’s pick for deputy Defense secretary declined to say Russia invaded Ukraine when pressed Tuesday by senators and defended massive Pentagon firings — a sign he’s unlikely to challenge the dramatic changes underway at the department.

Stephen Feinberg, a Trump donor and billionaire investor, told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that he didn’t want to “speak out of turn” and undermine the president’s negotiations.

The hearing for the Pentagon’s No. 2 offered a stunning split screen. Democrats pushed Feinberg on Trump’s controversial purge of top military officials, a reshuffle of the next military budget proposal and the layoffs of thousands of civilian employees. Republicans sidestepped the developments, instead asking low-key questions about accelerating innovation and expanding shipbuilding.

“This was a Russian invasion of Ukraine, and at the highest levels of our government right now, we have folks who won’t speak the truth,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said. “It is important that we not let these things just pass by unremarked upon.”

Feinberg’s reluctance to acknowledge Russia as the aggressor in the three-year war occurred amid Trump’s recent criticisms of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and discussions with Russia about peace talks that exclude Kyiv. He’s the latest administration ally to avoid questions about the war’s perpetrator.

“I’m not privy to the details of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, what the sensitivities are, what the president’s trying to accomplish — so I’d be afraid to speak out of turn and undermine that,” Feinberg said. “I do have confidence that the president is very skillful at this, and he’ll find the right way to help the United States.”

The CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, also defended the administration’s plans for a dramatic culling of thousands of Pentagon employees.

“We have more than 900,000 civilian employees, so while every person counts and is, of course very important, there’s going to be some change,” he said, adding that job cuts would likely stem from voluntary retirements and exits.

Feinberg said he would devise a “concrete, specific, granular plan.”

Senate Armed Services ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and other Democrats argued indiscriminate cuts would undercut national security and cripple the military.

“When you’ve run companies, have you ever walked in and fired thousands of people without any analysis of the cost of benefits?” Reed asked.

Feinberg didn’t answer directly but framed the move as an efficiency effort. “In these kinds of reorganizations, there’s always turnover, and without turnover, you can’t become an efficient organization,” he said.

Republicans largely avoided the layoffs, except for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who commended the Trump team’s willingness to “make hard cuts” and take on the national debt.

Democrats pushed Feinberg to weigh in on the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s involvement at the Pentagon. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) solicited Feinberg’s pledge to protect classified information at the Defense Department in the wake of DOGE’s apparent access to sensitive personal data from other federal agencies. On this, he agreed.

“We have to follow the laws, and you can’t allow classified data that is not legal to be in other people’s hands,” he said. “We’ll make sure that transfer, if it happens, is done by the appropriate ways.”

Democrats also asked Feinberg to reconcile Hegseth’s directive to cut 8 percent from the Pentagon budget with congressional efforts to increase defense spending by $150 billion.

“I don’t think the cuts haven’t been determined, so I think there’s a chance to make them correctly,” he said.

Feinberg said that — with an eye on China — he planned to tackle ammunition shortages, prioritize hypersonic weapons, enlarge the Pentagon’s venture capital arm and expand its adoption of autonomous vehicles.