Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon Pick, Awaits Senate Confirmation Hearing | Politics News
US senators intend to question Hegseth, who has the support of Republicans, over controversial statements and past controversies.
Pete Hegseththe former Fox News host who was chosen by the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, to head the Pentagon, will be criticized by lawmakers at a Senate hearing.
“Culture war” issues, including diversity in the military, are expected to be at the center of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday for one of the most controversial nominees ever to be the US secretary of defense.
Hegseth’s service in the Army National Guard is widely considered an asset for the job, and he has the support of Trump and the Republican Party.
But the 44-year-old has also been criticized for the record past statements and actions, including allegations of sexual abuse that he strongly denies, heavy drinking and derisive views about women in military combat roles, minorities and “woke” generals.
Hegseth is among the most threatened candidates for the Trump administration, but Republicans are determined to turn him into a celebrated cause for the president-elect’s authoritarian approach. Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated on Monday.
“It will be torn apart. He will be humiliated. He’s going to be the talk of the town,” Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville said of Hegseth at an event where former Army and Navy SEALs and Marines endorsed the candidate.
“But we’ll get him over the finish line.”
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Armed Services Committee, described Hegseth as “a guy with a track record of being so drunk at work events that he had to be escorted out on multiple occasions.”
“Can we really count on Hegseth calling at 2 a.m. to make life-and-death national security decisions? No,” she said on X.
Hegseth can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed if every Democrat and independent votes against him.
During the hearing, Hegseth will have to answer for his comments that “real” women should not be in combat roles in the military, a position he softened after recent meetings with senators.
Two former combat veterans, Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa and Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, are among those who will question him.
“He can try to retract his comments about women in combat all he wants, but we know what he means, don’t we?” said Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in the Army National Guard was shot down.
“He is the most unqualified person ever to be nominated for Secretary of Defense.”
Cabinet nominees almost never lose Senate votes because they usually withdraw if they appear to be in trouble.
The last candidate to be defeated was former Senator John Tower, also nominated for Secretary of Defense, in 1989. Tower was under investigation for allegations of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior with women.
