WASHINGTON, D.C. – President- Elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, faced tough questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. While some Republicans gave him a warm welcome, Democrats grilled him on policy and allegations of excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and a lack of experience.
It’s typical for cabinet nominees to face tough questions but Hegseth aced really tough and at times confrontational questions from Democratic senators about a slew of things.
The Secretary of Defense is arguably one of the most important spots in the cabinet, which oversees nearly three-million people and more than 800-billion dollars for the Defense Department. Many Republican senators said Hegseth, who is a former army veteran and Fox News anchor, described him as an unconventional pick. They add however, he would be a breath of fresh air at the Pentagon.
Hegseth told committee members he wants to bring back the “warrior culture” back to the Defense Department and he wants the Pentagon to be focused on warfighting, lethality, standards and readiness. But his nomination has been clouded in controversy. There have been reports of allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking, financial mismanagement at veterans’ organizations and Senators questioned him about comments he said about women should straight up not serve in combat.
Senator Gary Peters (D- MI) questioned him about his experience or lack thereof for running one of the biggest departments. Michigan’s freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) aired concerns about the President misusing the military.
“President Trump said in November he is willing to use the active-duty military against the quote ‘the enemy within,’” said Sen. Slotkin. “Have you personally been involved in discussions of using the US military active duty inside the United States?”
“Senator, I’m glad we finally got on topic of border security equaling national security because it’s been abdicated and ignored for the last four years,” responded Hegseth.
“That wasn’t my question,” replied Sen. Slotkin.
Following the hearing, Republicans defended Hegseth’s nomination.
“It’s going to be lethality, it’s going to be warfighting, and it’s going to be winning wars and reviving our defense industrial base, this is what we have to have,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R- AK). “I thought on those issues he did great.”
Hegseth has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying there’s a smear campaign against him. Within these past few weeks, he’s been privately meeting with Republican senators trying to win them over. It appears, at least through the line of questioning in this hearing, he does have Republican support. Following the hearing, Democratic members said the answers they asked him did not convince them he is the right pick for the job.
