By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-01-14 23:31:45 | Updated at 2025-01-15 05:20:50
5 hours ago
Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth confidently asserted his fitness for the job Tuesday while being grilled by Senate Democrats about allegations of mismanagement, binge drinking and sexual misconduct.
Hegseth, 44, declared that President-elect Donald Trump chose him to “restore the warrior ethos to the Pentagon” while fielding rapid-fire questions from both sides of the aisle, especially about allegations stemming from his time as the president of two veterans advocacy groups.
“When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was — to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense,” Hegseth said in his opening statement. “He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That’s it. That is my job.”
Several sources close to the process told The Post after the hearing that Hegseth was “absolutely” a shoo-in for confirmation after Trump returns to the White House on Jan. 20.
At least one person was assured that the Pentagon nom had “improved his standing and did very well today,” despite seeming unanimous disapproval from Democrats — with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Army vet herself, branding Hegseth a “no-go.”
Hegseth repeatedly pledged to rid the Pentagon of “woke” Biden administration policies, such as climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Asked by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) how he believed US service members would react to such a move, the nominee answered “the troops will rejoice.”
“They will love it. They will love it,” Hegseth said. “And we’ve already seen it in recruiting numbers. There’s already been a surge, since President Trump won the election, of recruiting the Army’s interests.”
The defense secretary-designate had been ousted from his own Army National Guard unit and unable to serve at President Biden’s inauguration in 2021, he noted, for having a “Christian tattoo” — the Jerusalem Cross — branded as an “extremist” symbol by a fellow soldier.
Hegseth said his Defense Department would “focus on lethality and warfighting,” while also being ready to “deter and prevent wars” if necessary.
A retired US Army major, the former Fox News personality has never been appointed to a political position, but served for more than a decade and deployed on combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hegseth told senators that Trump chose him because the president-elect believed it was time to appoint a defense secretary “with dust on his boots.”
“As President Trump also told me, we’ve repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly ‘the right credentials’ — whether they are retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives — and where has it gotten us?” he asked.
“He believes, and I humbly agree, that it’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.”
Only one Republican defection could deadlock a vote on Hegseth’s nomination in the Armed Services committee before it heads to the Senate floor, though no GOPer expressed reservations in Tuesday’s hearing.
The nominee can then afford to lose just four votes in the upper chamber, which Hegseth controls 53-47.
In an effort to derail the confirmation, Senate Democrats homed in on allegations of sexual impropriety — including a sexual assault accusation in October 2017 that resulted in a non-disclosure agreement — drinking on the job, and financial mismanagement at Concerned Vets for America, one of the advocacy groups.
They also pulled out previous comments by Hegseth disparaging the service of women and LGBTQ troops in the military as part of his crusade against DEI in the ranks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) likened Hegseth’s public reversal on female troops in the past month to a “deathbed conversion.”
“Women will have access to ground combat roles, given combat standards remain high,” the nominee pledged to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), another veteran on the panel.
With the exception of a handful of CodePink hecklers who interrupted his opening statement — one of whom denounced Hegseth as a “misogynist” — the nominee was given time to respond to what he called a “coordinated smear campaign” against him.
The Pentagon nom’s lawyer previously said Hegseth was effectively blackmailed during the #MeToo movement into paying off his accuser and that the sex was consensual.
“I was falsely accused in October of 2017; it was fully investigated; and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth said during his testimony, dismissing all “anonymous” accusations.
“They’re not anonymous,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) retorted at one point. “We have seen records with names attached to all of these, including the name of your own mother,” referring to an email Hegseth’s parent sent her son distraught over his infidelity that she later said she apologized to him for.
“If it had been a sexual assault, that would be disqualifying to be secretary of defense,” the Virginia Democrat said.
“You and I have both seen the FBI background investigation,” added Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member on the panel who graduated from West Point and served 20 for years in the Army. “I want to say for the record, I believe the investigation was insufficient.”
Trump’s nominee responded flatly that he was “not in charge of FBI background checks,” which all cabinet appointees must undergo.
Reed also emphasized that “the secretary is responsible for leading a department of three and a half million service members and civilians, an annual budget of nearly $900 billion and hundreds of thousands of aircraft, ships, submarines, combat vehicles, satellites and the nuclear arsenal.”
“Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the demands of this job,” he assessed. “You lack the character, composure and competence to hold the position of secretary of defense.”
“You admittedly had issues with heavy drinking,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired Navy captain who flew combat missions during Operation Desert Storm, also said, later asking: “Have you overcome personal issues or are you the target of a smear campaign? It can’t be both.”
“It’s clear to me that you’re not being honest with us or the American people because you know the truth would disqualify you from getting the job,” Kelly concluded. Hegseth had previously committed to not drink alcohol if confirmed.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) tore into his Democratic colleagues during questioning for being hypocrites about Hegseth’s flaws.
”How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job?” Mullin said. “And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it, because I know you have.”
Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in his opening statement proclaimed that Hegseth’s confirmation comes at “a moment of consequence.”
“The United States faces the most dangerous security environment since World War II,” Wicker said, pointing to an “axis of aggressors” — including “China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.”
In opening statements introducing Hegseth, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) commended Trump on his choice, arguing that it was a benefit — not a drawback — that the nominee would bring the experience of having been on the front lines in a lower rank.
”He will bring the perspective of being the first secretary of defense to have served as a junior officer on the front lines — not in the headquarters, on the front lines — in the War on Terror,” said Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser pick.
“[He] recognizes the human costs, the financial costs and the policy drift, that was discussed often in this very room, that led us to decades and decades of war.”
Waltz further commended Hegseth’s media experience, arguing that as an experienced communicator, he would be able to adeptly explain the nation’s national security risks to the public.
That quality would be a stark contrast to President Biden’s reclusive Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who only took questions at the Pentagon podium a handful of times during his four-year tenure.
Hegseth also committed to providing “accountability” for the Biden administration’s failures — including the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and forced COVID-19 vaccinations, vowing to reinstate the 8,000 troops kicked out of their service branches for refusing to take the COVID jab.
“Not only will they be reinstated,” he promised. “They will receive an apology, back pay and rank that they lost because they were forced out due to an experimental vaccine.”
“People see me as someone who hosts a morning show on television — but people that really know me know where my heart is at,” Hegseth pointed out, recalling his days on deployment with friends in the “darkest and most difficult places you could ever be in.”
“I’m doing this job for them.”
