‘This Is Criminal’: Hegseth Hit with Calls for Removal After Dismissing Sailors’ Desperate Pleas for Soap and Hot Meals — As Crew Members Reportedly Try to Jump Overboard
The Pentagon is asking Congress for another massive infusion of money even as reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln paint a troubling picture of life aboard one of America’s most powerful warships.
While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushes for a historic $1.5 trillion military budget, families of sailors are sounding the alarm over shortages of basic necessities and reports of crew members attempting to jump overboard during the carrier’s record-breaking deployment.
The disconnect is fueling growing outrage over the Pentagon’s spending priorities, with critics invoking “Lobstergate” — the $6.9 million spent on lobster and millions more on steaks, crab and other luxury items — and questions mounting over why sailors in the Iran war are not getting the support they need.
More than 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have endured 250 consecutive days at sea, with reports of attempted suicides, shortages of basic supplies and increasingly desperate pleas from military families.
The carrier left San Diego on Nov. 21 and was initially bound for the Pacific before being redirected to the Middle East after the war with Iran began. Its deployment, originally scheduled to end in May, has been extended multiple times.
The crew has reportedly spent only two days on land since leaving San Diego — one in Guam in December and another in Oman in July.
The strain has become particularly alarming amid reports that some sailors have gone so far as to try to jump into the sea as conditions aboard the carrier deteriorate.
At a San Diego town hall attended by roughly 200 family members last week, one spouse said her husband had texted her that he “hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.” Another woman told Navy leadership that the service had “broken trust between us and the leadership.”
Annabelle Loma, whose husband tried to jump overboard after his deployment was repeatedly extended, told the Navy Times, “He’s scared. He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that.”
Rep. Mike Levin, a California Democrat, described “moldy showers, broken toilets, laundry down for weeks, long stretches with no hot water, a meal that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas. No soap, deodorant, or toothpaste,” the Guardian reports.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has warned that the pressure on sailors and their families is “building week by week.”
Those reports come as Hegseth is pressing Congress to dramatically increase military spending. During a Monday ceremony renaming Joint Base Charleston after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, Hegseth reiterated his call for $1.5 trillion in defense funds.
“As we gather here today, the War Department is seeking a historic generational investment of $1.5 trillion for American warriors. And Lindsey himself said to me in his office, ‘This is the best military budget I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress.’ End quote,” Hegseth said, according to CNN.
Previously, a government watchdog found that the Defense Department spent $93.4 billion in September 2025 as officials rushed to use remaining funds before the fiscal year ended. Among the purchases were $6.9 million in lobster, $15.1 million in ribeye steaks, $2 million in Alaskan king crab, nearly $140,000 in doughnuts and more than $124,000 on ice cream machines.
The new funding request comes after the Pentagon received roughly $800 billion for the previous year, along with another $150 billion through Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. However, the war has created mounting costs, with Hegseth estimating the conflict will cost taxpayers about $37.5 billion by September and asking Congress for another $67 billion to cover weapons replenishment and other costs, The Washington Post reports.
“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth told reporters in March. More recently, he dismissed reports of poor ship conditions as “more fake news.”
But Levin fired back: “These men and women signed up to serve their country. The least their country owes them is hot water, a working toilet and a real meal. Hegseth cannot even manage that, and he has the nerve to look their families in the eye and call them liars.”
According to the Guardian, one Navy official denied the most serious allegations, saying the service had not identified an increase in reported suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts aboard the Lincoln. The official also said sailors have access to counselors and chaplains and that “current reports from the ship confirm continuous access to clean water, functional AC and healthy meal options.”
Still, the allegations have continued to draw outrage.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote, “The Trump Admin must explain what they are doing to support sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln who have been continuously at sea for nearly 7 months. Widespread reports of supply shortages, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health & more demand immediate attention.”
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Social media critics piled on.
“This is criminal. Hegseth is a disgrace and our lawmakers should be calling for his impeachment, at the very least,” one wrote.
Another asked, “Why are they constantly asking for more money for a war if they can’t pay the sailors fighting in the war? How is ICE living better than the men and women who lay their lives on the line for us? This should make every American mad! Bring our sailors home!”
A third critic said, “This situation is a total nightmare. I worry for the sailors’ physical and emotional health; now imagine if they were all jacked on testosterone. Hegseth is completely unqualified and incompetent. He needs to be impeached, now!”
Another post pulled no punches: “This is on Pete Hegseth!! The military has the biggest budget we have, and they’re living in conditions that sound more like an ICE detention center … Hegseth loves mouthing off about the ‘warrior ethos,’ but taking care of the warriors is part of the damn job!”