“Invited in by Senators”: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Alleges Conspiracy Behind Protesters at Hegseth’s Hearing
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) offered a sharp critique of the demonstrators who disrupted Pete Hegseth’s Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, claiming the protesters were given access by senators themselves.
Speaking on the Benny Johnson Show, Luna referred to the protesters as “crazies” and “no-Christian jihad[ist]” while alleging that the disruptions were orchestrated for political purposes. Luna, a far-right Florida congresswoman, shared her own frustrations, including being barred from displaying a provocative sign targeting Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“What’s interesting is those people actually were sitting in some of the Senate-designated guest seats,” Luna said. “And so, it’s interesting – who gave them tickets? But then also too, I had actually brought in a poster…that had Elizabeth Warren’s college application that checked her as being Native American, and they would not allow me to bring that in.”
Luna criticized the perceived double standard, claiming the demonstrators were “literally allowed to stand there, hold up their sign[s],” while she was prohibited from showcasing her poster. “Which my poster was way better,” she said to Daily Mail.
The protesters, she noted, were vocal in their calls for “peace in the Middle East,” a sentiment Luna mocked as contradictory. “Who doesn’t want peace? But then they’re also advocating against Pete Hegseth and then invited in by senators to hold signs and disrupt, so the whole thing as you can see was political propaganda,” Luna said.
The congresswoman also took aim at what she described as a biased media landscape, alleging that mainstream outlets ignored the presence of over 500 veterans on Capitol Hill to support Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary.
“Unless it was a conservative outlet, they didn’t want to cover that,” Luna claimed. “There were Navy SEALS, there were Green Berets, and there were female veterans supporting Hegseth, but they didn’t want to cover that—they wanted to cover the crazies.”
The protests and Luna’s allegations added fuel to the already contentious confirmation hearing for Hegseth, a Fox News personality and Trump ally. While Republicans push for his confirmation as the next defense secretary, the hearing has become a flashpoint for partisan clashes over both the nominee and the broader political dynamics surrounding his appointment.
