Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., a swing-district Democrat who touts herself as a bipartisan dealmaker, told a liberal audience she wants to «work across the aisle» before saying moments later that watching Pete Hegseth testify made her want to «beat the s— out of him.»

Lee made the remarks during an appearance last month before the Sun City Liberal Club in Las Vegas while discussing rare earth minerals and her work supporting MP Materials, a Las Vegas-based company involved in U.S. critical minerals production. The comments come as she seeks re-election in Nevada’s closely divided 3rd Congressional District.

«I want to be bipartisan. I want to work across the aisle,» Lee told the crowd, according to video of the remarks. But moments later, while discussing Hegseth appearing before her committee, she said, «Now listen, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. Like you just wanna beat the s— out of him.»

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«But you got to bite it,» Lee said of wanting to «beat the s—» out of Hegseth.

The Hegseth remark is not the first profanity-laced comment to draw scrutiny for Lee. In April, Fox News Digital reported that Lee deleted an expletive-filled late-night social media post targeting Trump after online backlash, then defended her remarks by saying her «nerve was touched» by what she described as attacks on the Constitution.

«Secretary Hegseth has made life less safe and more expensive for Americans. The war of choice that he and President Trump started has placed more burden on working families by increasing the cost of gas and groceries. And despite promising to immediately review Congresswoman Lee’s request to get Nevada Test and Training Range veterans the health care they need, Secretary Hegseth has dragged his feet for nearly two months,» a spokesperson for Lee told Fox News Digital. «Clearly, there are many areas in which Congresswoman Lee does not see eye to eye with the Secretary.»

Lee’s comments about wanting to beat up Hegseth came while she was teeing up a story to the Sun City Liberal Club about pressing the Secretary of War during a hearing on the Pentagon’s decision to invest in an Australian company while supposedly leaving a U.S.-based one out to dry. Lee said she appealed to Hegseth by telling him she believed in «made in America» and questioned why the Pentagon had invested more heavily in a different Australian company as opposed to MP Materials, an American one. 

«Now listen, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. Like you just wanna beat the s— out of him. I mean yea, but you just got to bite it. So this is what I did – he came in front of my committee twice,» Lee said as she told the story about the rare earth investments.

«You got to lay on their ego, right?» she continued. «Well, three weeks later, they announced a $2 billion investment in MP Materials, okay? I didn’t want to be sweet with Hegseth, okay, I didn’t. But, you know, you got to do what you got to do to get s— done, right?»

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

«Congresswoman Lee set aside [her differences with Hegseth] on behalf of her constituents to secure an investment in a Nevada-based employer that will create hundreds of jobs in southern Nevada,» Lee’s spokesperson told Fox News Digital. «She will continue putting politics aside and working with anyone — regardless of party — to lower costs, create jobs, and make life better for her constituents.» 

But Republicans took aim at the remarks as evidence that Lee’s bipartisan brand is at odds with how she talks about Trump administration officials behind closed doors.

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«It’s unfortunate for our Republic, near our 250th birthday of this great experiment we call America, that town hall comments like this reveal the truth, and Republican voters should be warned that Democrats, if they take over the majority, will simply spend their time going after President Trump and his administration,» said Mark Bednar, former head of communications for former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.

Republicans also took issue with Lee’s claim that her exchange with Hegseth helped spur a major Defense Department investment in MP Materials, accusing the Nevada Democrat of overstating her role while using the story to burnish her bipartisan credentials.

«Either Susie Lee believes her words contain the persuasive power of the word of God, or she’s making stuff up and being completely unhinged to boot,» said Republican National Committee spokesperson Nick Poché. «Nevadans deserve a leader who will work to deliver for them, not posers whose only objective in office is to improve their stock portfolios like Susie Lee.»

Democrat Rep. Susie Lee sparked backlash after going on a late-night expletive-filled rant against President Donald Trump. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

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MP Materials eventually signed a major agreement with the Defense Department, including a $400 million Pentagon investment that made the federal government the company’s largest shareholder and other commitments aimed at strengthening the U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain.

One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime’s uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains. 

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.

The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.

Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.

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Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: «Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.»

Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.

Faragasso added, «If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?»

The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain. 

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Vice President JD Vance prior to a meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Bürgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)

The institute wrote that «at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.»

In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, «at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired. 

«The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.»

As U.S.-Iran talks opened Sunday in Switzerland, and a dispute over who controls and monitors billions of dollars in potentially unfrozen Iranian assets emerged. (Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

The institute also reported, «As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.» ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.

«At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.»

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The institute added, «The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt» at Fordow.

Fox News Digital sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.

James Carville, the architect of President Bill Clinton’s 1992 victory over President George H.W. Bush and industrialist H. Ross Perot, said this week that President Donald Trump has forced him to break with the catchphrase that many believe helped win that election and made him a political household name.

Carville originally coined «It’s the economy, stupid,» as an internal reminder to campaign staff at Clinton’s Little Rock headquarters to stay on-message amid Bush’s rising approval ratings connected to his handling of the Gulf War.

But this week, Carville suggested allegations of corruption involving President Donald Trump have supplanted the idea that the economy should remain top of mind during election season.

During a discussion on his «Politicon» podcast network, former Mount Holyoke Dean Joseph Ellis mentioned «It’s the economy, stupid» before the Ragin Cajun cut him off.

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«So, professor, I thought about that recently – about ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ – it’s a great catchphrase. It’s maybe one of the most oft-repeated things in politics,» Carville said.

«I now have come to detest the fact I said that.»

Without mentioning Trump by name, Carville — who has repeatedly accused the incumbent of corruption in recent months — compared him with the more genteel Bush.

«I’ll listen to people who say, ‘people don’t care about corruption, they care about the economy — As long as their incomes are up, they don’t care what he does’ – and I’m afraid that’s right.»

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«But I said it in 1992, and say what you want about George H.W. Bush, he was not… a corrupt man at all; decent man too. We have now the breathtaking, staggering — I understand if people say, ‘Yeah, you know, you’re right, that’s all people care about is the economy, and I won’t do it, I don’t say anything, I’m nice’,» he said, appearing to envision voters preferring to focus on the economy over other personality issues.

«I want to punch him in the f—ing face. OK? Yes. I’m serious… Because the phrase actually haunts me today.»

Asked about the invective, White House spokesman Davis Ingle called the Ragin’ Cajun a «stone-cold loser.»

«[Carville] suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it has rotted his peanut-sized brain,» Ingle said.

During an earlier discussion with his co-host, former Wall Street Journal Washington bureau chief Al Hunt, Carville said that «we are drowning; we’re suffocating in corruption» before accusing Trump of increasing his net worth by $2 billion since becoming president.

«I’m just really fearful for the United States,» he added.

In February, Carville directed one of his segments at Trump as though the president was watching, telling the president that his inner circle «hates» him and that he is a «fat, sorry, sack of s—.»

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Since then, he has continued criticizing the president and recently said he is proud to have the proverbial «Trump Derangement Syndrome.»

Campaign staff George Stephanopoulos, left, and James Carville, center, walk with then-Arkansas Gov. William J. Clinton. (Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images)

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Carville has been a mainstay in Democratic politics ever since helping engineer Clinton’s 1992 victory, alongside other notable campaign aides, including ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, whom Trump also spars with on occasion.

Clinton’s 1992 campaign produced several enduring touchstones, from Carville’s «It’s the economy, stupid,» to Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 hit «Don’t Stop,» which became the de facto theme song for his successful bid.

Carville’s comments about his old slogan also come as he recently rebuked socialist nominees taking over his party.

Fox News Digital reached out to Carville via his «Politicon» podcast for further comment.