Lawmakers grill Hegseth about the Iran war

It's been an astounding military success. But are we winning the war? Absolutely. OK, so do you call Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz winning?

Let's bring in CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nikole Killion. All right, Nikole, so how did Secretary Hegseth defend the actions of the Pentagon and justify the war's cost? Yeah, well, I think it's important to keep in mind when we're talking about the cost-- and this was the first time we really heard a price tag assigned to the ongoing war with Iran, that $25-billion price tag. But keep in mind, that is not it. We expect that number will likely go up, simply because Pentagon officials told lawmakers at that House Armed Services hearing just yesterday that they are still working with the White House on a supplemental funding package for the war. That is something that Congress has been waiting for for some time now. And that is on top of an outstanding budget request by the president. Of course, next year, he has requested $1.5 trillion in defense spending, which is a substantial increase over previous years. And that really was the subject of this hearing and the one today. It's focused on the president's budget. But, of course, because this was the secretary's first time before lawmakers since the Iran war, of course, there were lots of questions about not only the price tag but the timetable and the endgame here. So we saw the secretary spar mostly with Democrats at this House Armed Services Committee hearing on a range of subjects. He did not provide any timetable for how much longer this war could go on. But the way that he defended this was by saying, look, would it be better to have an Iran that is capable of building a nuclear weapon, a nuclear-armed Iran? So that continued to be his defense for why the US went to war with Iran and why it's still there. So, Nikole, we've got some breaking news into the newsroom. We just learned that Maine Governor Janet Mills is suspending her run for the Senate. What's the reason there? Yeah, that's right. Well, this came as a bit of a surprise. Obviously, this has kind of been a contentious Senate primary in Maine. And Janet Mills, of course, is a well-known name in Maine. She is the governor there, a two-term governor, by the way, someone that Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, had really put his weight behind. But the bottom line is she said she's running out of money. I believe we have part of her statement there, if we're able to put it on the screen, where she says, "While I have the drive and passion, commitment, and experience, and above all else-- the fight-- to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today-- the financial resources." And we do know that she was lagging Graham Platner, her Democratic primary opponent, who is a 41-year-old oyster man, someone who has no political experience but was really starting to gain traction in the polls, despite some controversial headlines about him. He has the backing of folks like Bernie Sanders. So by Mills stepping back, of course, this paves the path for Platner to now take on Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, this coming November. All right, Nikole Killion, appreciate it.