Retired Major General Randy Manner of the US Army has accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of using language that constitutes the words of a war criminal. Manner pointed specifically to Hegseth's calls to "show no quarter", a phrase explicitly prohibited under US law and defined as a war crime, as well as statements about attacking civilian infrastructure. The retired general warned that even a presidential pardon from Trump would not shield Hegseth from international prosecution at The Hague.