By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-15 08:41:27 | Updated at 2025-01-15 12:39:09
3 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // The Senate met Monday for its confirmation hearing of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become the next U.S. Secretary of Defense.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon is a retired Army National Guard officer and former FOX News host. The contentious session marked the first such hearing for a nominee to join Trump’s second administration.
During the hearing, failed 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, repeatedly brought up Hegseth’s family and relationship history.
Hegseth, a father of seven, has been married and divorced twice prior to marrying his wife Jennifer in 2019. As many media outlets have reported over the past few weeks, Hegseth had fathered a now 7-year-old daughter with his eventual third wife while still legally married to his second.
“You’ve taken an oath – like you would take an oath to be secretary of defense – to be faithful to your wife. Is that correct?” Kaine, a self-professed Catholic who supports abortion, asked Hegseth.
“I have failed in things in my life and thankfully I’m redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Hegseth answered.
“Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives?” Kaine asked.
“Senator, absolutely not,” replied Hegseth.
Pete Hegseth had the perfect response to Tim Kaine's personal attacks against him and his family:
"I have failed at things in my life and thankfully I'm redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." pic.twitter.com/A4iQivL2Aq
Kaine followed up: “But you would agree with me if somebody had committed physical violence against a spouse, that would be disqualifying to serve as Secretary of Defense, correct?”
“Senator, absolutely not have I ever done that,” Hegseth reiterated.
“You would agree that that would be a disqualifying offense?” Kaine asked again.
“Senator, you’re talking about a hypothetical,” Hegseth said.
Hillary Clinton’s former running mate then responded: “I don’t think it’s a hypothetical. Violence against spouses occurs every day.” He then referenced an unproven 2017 sexual assault allegation made against Hegseth.
“False claims were made against me,” Hegseth said, maintaining his innocence and citing investigations that cleared him of wrongdoing.
Critics lambasted Kaine for bringing up Hegseth’s young daughter, 7, as an apparent means to personally attack the nominee.
“Can you so casually cheat on a second wife, and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before?” the Democrat pressed Hegseth. “And you tell us you were completely cleared.”
“The child’s name is Gwendolyn Hope Hegseth,” the nominee stated. “And she is a child of God. And she’s seven years old. I’m glad she’s here.”
Kaine continued to grill Hegseth: “And you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born? Didn’t you?”
“Those were false charges,” Hegseth said. “It was fully investigated. And I was completely cleared.”
Mullin defends Hegseth, highlights ‘liberal hypocrisy’
On the other hand, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-OK, delivered a passionate defense of Hegseth and addressed claims made by Kaine and other Democratic senators.
Mullin noted that there had been “a lot of talk” among senators during the hearing about whether Hegseth is “qualified” to lead the Department of Defense. But to serve in the Senate, there are “no qualifications except for your age and you got to be living in the state and you’re a citizen of the United States,” Mullin pointed out.
The senator then noted that the position of Secretary of Defense has been traditionally filled by a civilian, like Hegseth, with current Secretary Lloyd Austin and former Secretary James Mattis – both generals and career military officers – being exceptions to the norm.
“And then there’s questions that the senator from Massachusetts brought up about serving on a board inside the military industry,” Mullin continued, referring to an objection Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, had raised earlier in the hearing.
“And yet your own secretary that you all voted for, Secretary Austin, we had to vote on a waiver because he stepped off the board of Raytheon,” Mullin said. “But I guess that’s okay because that’s a Democrat Secretary of Defense.”
“But you so quickly forget about that,” Mullin went on, speaking to his Democratic colleagues.
He then turned his attention to Kaine, whom he said “starts bringing up the fact what if you showed up drunk to your job.”
“How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” he asked. “Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign from their job? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen it because I know you have.
“And how many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives?” Mullin asked. “Did you ask them to step down? No.”
“But it’s for show,” he continued. “You guys make sure you make a big show and point out the hypocrisy because the man’s made a mistake. And you want to sit there and say he’s not qualified.”
“It is so ridiculous that you guys hold yourself to this higher standard and you forget that you have a big plank in your eye,” Mullin said, referencing Matthew 7:3.
“We’ve all made mistakes. I’ve made mistakes,” the senator continued. “And Jennifer,” he added, addressing Hegseth’s wife, “thank you for loving him through that mistake. Because the only reason why I’m here and not in prison is because my wife loved me too.”
“Just like our Lord and Savior forgave me, my wife’s had to forgive me more than once too, and I’m sure you had to forgive him too,” Mullin told Mrs. Hegseth. “So, thank you.”
