Hillary Clinton's attempt to dunk on Hegseth over Russia-related order backfires gloriously

Unnamed sources told the Record that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command last week to pause offensive operations against Russia — apparently as part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to induce President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton evidently saw the report as an opportunity to recycle her go-to smear and dunk on Hegseth.

Critics mindful of Clinton's history with the Russians were, however, quick to note that the former secretary of state was pitching rocks from a glass house.

Background

Three individuals supposedly familiar with the order told the Record on the condition of anonymity that Hegseth instructed Cyber Command chief Gen. Timothy Haugh last week to halt offensive digital actions against Russia. Haugh reportedly passed on the instruction to Cyber Command's outgoing director of operations, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Ryan Heritage.

The unnamed sources noted that the order does not apply to the National Security Agency or its Russia-aimed signals intelligence work.

A Pentagon official told the Record, "Due to operational security concerns, we do not comment nor discuss cyber intelligence, plans, or operations. There is no greater priority to Secretary Hegseth than the safety of the Warfighter in all operations, to include the cyber domain."

Citing one current official and two former officials briefed on the new guidance, the New York Times reported Sunday that the order was issued prior to President Donald Trump's discordant engagement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and that its scope was unclear, especially as the line between defensive and offensive actions is oftentimes blurred.

Former officials told the Times that it was common practice to pause military operations during diplomatic negotiations such as those presently pursued by the Trump administration.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ABC News on Sunday, "We have to bring [Russia] to the table. You're not going to bring them to the table if you're calling them names, if you're being antagonistic. That's just the president's instincts from years and years and years of putting together deals."

Rock, glass house

Hillary Clinton shared news of Hegseth's alleged order on Sunday, writing, "Wouldn't want to hurt Putin's feelings."

Clinton was soon inundated with reminders that in the days of her political relevancy, she not only played nice with Moscow — despite its repeated aggression against neighboring nations — but signed away American resources for Russia's benefit.

'We also need to keep trying to find common ground.'

Hegseth was quick with a response. His reply on X contained no words, just an image from 2009 of then-Secretary of State Clinton cackling beside Putin's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

Although Clinton is now critical of the Trump administration's efforts to improve diplomatic relations with the nuclear power, at the time she and her boss thought it was a worthwhile pursuit.

The picture, taken a year after Russia's invasion of Georgia and few years ahead of Russia's invasion of the Crimean Peninsula, shows Clinton presenting Lavrov — dubbed by some Western diplomats as a "mouthpiece for Putin" — with a red button symbolizing her desire to improve relations between Washington and Moscow. The red button was emblazoned with the English word "reset." It also had what Clinton figured for the Russian word for "reset," which was actually the Russian word for "overload."

Hegseth was far from the only person to highlight an instance where Clinton previously massaged the feelings of those in the Kremlin.

One user on X asked Clinton, "This you?" referencing a video excerpt of Clinton's 2014 CNN town hall where she described her efforts to bond with Putin over endangered species and noted, "We also need to keep trying to find common ground [with Putin]."

Numerous critics also issued reminders about Clinton's role in the Uranium One deal.

During Obama's tenure in the White House, a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow took majority ownership of a Canadian company, Uranium One, that had significant mining interests in the United States.

Since uranium is a strategic asset, the deal ultimately required the sign-off of the State Department. The department, then run by Hillary Clinton, provided the green-light, reportedly granting the Russian state corporation control of roughly 20% of American uranium production. It's unclear whether the State Department under Clinton did so with Putin's feelings in mind.

The New York Times reported that Bill Clinton received $500,000 from a Kremlin-linked investment bank that was promoting Uranium One stock shortly after the Russians announced they sought to acquire a majority stake in the company. Months prior to the announcement, Hillary Clinton met with Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials.

Several of Uranium One's owners were Clinton Foundation donors, who collectively poured at least $145 million into the scandal-plagued outfit.

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