Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Congressman Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) demanded answers from Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary Pete Hegseth after the DOD removed four American soldiers from the official casualty count of President Trump’s illegal war with Iran, then quietly moved them into a vague new category which may have been designed to evade the War Powers Resolution and cover up the human cost of this war.
“The Pentagon appears to be lying about the casualties of fallen soldiers to continue justifying Donald Trump’s war of choice with Iran. This deception is a disgrace to the servicemembers who have defended our country. The American people deserve the truth about every life lost and soldier wounded in this illegal war. We must never forget the service and sacrifice of these soldiers who gave their last full measure of devotion to our country,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
“My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of these four servicemembers and the other 14 who have died since February. We are demanding transparency because these servicemembers were killed in action during Trump’s war of choice in Iran. The Department of Defense should not play games and try to hide the true cost of this war,” said Congressman Suhas Subramanyam.
In the letter to Secretary Hegseth, Ranking Member Robert Garcia and Congressman Suhas Subramanyam wrote, “We write regarding alarming reports that the Department of Defense (DOD) has attempted to cover up the human cost of President Trump’s war with Iran. On July 22, 2026, you stood at Dover Air Force Base as the remains of four soldiers returned home. DOD tied those deaths to Iranian aggression, and they were reportedly accurately recorded in the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) to bring the death toll from the Iran war to 18, before being removed from this count the following day. DOD blamed the change on a “temporary data disruption” and said the problem was being fixed, but other sources said the change was made because the deaths occurred after President Trump announced a cease-fire. Days later, the four deaths reappeared under a new category called “Overseas Operations,” which begins on July 7—the same date the Administration claims opened a new 60-day period under the War Powers Resolution. This timing raises the grave possibility that DOD created the new category to support an illegal attempt to defy the War Powers Act to continue a war. Oversight Democrats are investigating this attempt to mislead the American people and to dishonor fallen servicemembers in service of a reckless and illegal war.”
In March 2026, Ranking Member Garcia demanded answers from Secretary Pete Hegseth after the Financial Times revealed Secretary Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock and attempted to make a multimillion-dollar investment in defense companies in the weeks immediately leading up to the U.S. strikes on Iran. In December 2025, Ranking Member Garcia called on Secretary Hegseth to resign following his mishandling of classified information about U.S. strikes in Yemen via a Signal group chat which included a reporter in March 2025.
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