Trump Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth goes under Senate knife

WASHINGTON (CN) — Former Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth sought to reassure lawmakers on Tuesday that he had the skills and temperament to be secretary of defense under Donald Trump’s second administration, even as he faces questions about his qualifications to lead the U.S. military.

Hegseth, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as an officer in the Army National Guard, is the first of President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees to face questioning from the Senate. And, as expected, his nomination generated fireworks in the Senate Armed Services Committee — where Democrats needled the Pentagon hopeful on accusations of misconduct and his controversial past statements on the military.

“Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe you are qualified to meet the overwhelming commitments of this job,” said Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the armed services panel’s ranking Democratic member.

In the weeks since he was tapped by Trump to lead the Pentagon, Hegseth has faced a cascade of accusations of misconduct, including that he has abused alcohol and committed acts of sexual harassment and assault. The nominee has also come under scrutiny for what some critics have called financial mismanagement at his defunct veteran-focused nonprofit organization Vets for Freedom.

Hegseth has denied the accusations.

But Reed said that it was worth acknowledging the “concerning public reports” about the nominee, explaining that if true, those claims “would disqualify any servicemember” from the position of defense secretary.

Reed added that the nominee had met with him, but not with any other Democratic member of the Armed Services Committee — and called attention to comments about Democrats and left-leaning Americans Hegseth made as a Fox News host and political commentator that Reed framed as “rank partisanship.”

Hegseth did not address the accusations against him in his opening statement, choosing to focus instead on convincing lawmakers of his qualifications to lead the U.S. military.

“It is true, it has been acknowledged, that I don’t have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last 30 years,” he told senators. “But 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?”

Hegseth argued that it was time to give someone “with dust on his boots” the opportunity to coordinate the country’s defense policy, positioning himself as an outsider candidate with “no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.”

The nominee faced sharp questions from Democratic lawmakers — particularly about his past statements that women should not serve in combat roles in the military.

Hegseth has spent weeks walking back his comments, made in his recent book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free” and on a November podcast episode. During the podcast hosted by Shawn Ryan, the defense secretary nominee said the military should “straight up” not allow women to serve in combat.

“It hasn’t made us more effective,” he said at the time. “Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated.”

On Tuesday, Hegseth continued to back away from those statements. “Women in our military … have and continue to make amazing contributions across all aspects of our battlefield,” he told New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

But the Granite State Democrat was unconvinced by the nominee’s flip.

“On one hand, you say that women are not competent and that they make our military less effective, and on the other hand — now that you’ve been nominated as defense secretary — you say, ‘I’ve changed my view on women in the military,” Shaheen told Hegseth. “I appreciate your 11th hour conversion.”

In an apparent effort to contextualize some of his past comments, Hegseth argued that military physical readiness standards should not be altered to accommodate for women or anyone else — something he contended was happening.

“In ways direct, indirect, overt and subtle, standards have been changed … to ensure that commanders meet quotas to have a certain number of female infantry officers and infantry enlisted,” he told lawmakers.

His argument appeared to get a boost from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, who guided Hegseth through a discussion about “standards” in the military.

“An artillery shell weighs almost 100 pounds,” Cotton said. “An Abrams tank round weighs around 50 pounds. The M240B machine gun with tripod weighs almost 50 pounds … . Nothing you can do to change any of these things, right? That is a physical reality.”

That exchange irked New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who accused Cotton of giving Hegseth “layups” to explain his comments about women in the military. She called those statements “brutal” and “mean,” and held up existing military physical readiness standards, arguing they had not been changed as the nominee suggested.

“That does not exist,” she fumed.

Democrats also sparred with Hegseth over a 2017 sexual assault accusation and reports that he had abused alcohol on the job. Lawmakers needled the nominee over recent comments from Trump suggesting that the U.S. could use military or economic force to annex Greenland.

Hegseth refused to say whether such action was possible, telling Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono that he would not divulge that information “in a public forum.”

The armed services panel’s Republican leadership, meanwhile, nodded to Hegseth’s background but compared his nomination to Trump’s candidacy for president, arguing both men had unconventional qualifications for public office.

“Admittedly, this nomination is unconventional,” said committee chair Alabama Senator Roger Wicker. “The nominee is unconventional — just like that New York developer who rode down that escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for president.”

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, perhaps the top GOP skeptic of Hegseth’s nomination, questioned the nominee relatively lightly. Ernst, who said she had some “frank” conversations with Hegseth in recent weeks, asked him to commit once again to supporting women in combat roles.

“Women will have access to ground combat roles … given the standards remain high,” the nominee replied. “And, we’ll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases.”

And during a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he hadn’t seen Hegseth’s entire hearing but that he thought the nominee did “extremely well” and that he “made a strong argument for why he ought to be the next secretary of defense.”

Thune did not answer questions about the allegations against Hegseth, telling reporters that the former Fox News host had “addressed” them. The GOP leader added that if his nomination was favorably reported to the full Senate lawmakers would move quickly on a confirmation vote.

“That’s a key, critical important national security position that needs to be filled,” Thune said.

As his hearing got underway Tuesday morning, Hegseth was greeted with a standing ovation from some in the gathered audience, who chanted “USA” as he made his way to his seat. “Go get ‘em, Petey!” one supporter called out.

But as the nominee gave his opening statement, the mood in the audience changed. A handful of protesters were removed from the hearing room by U.S. Capitol Police, including one man who identified himself as a U.S. merchant mariner and a Vietnam veteran.

The protester, who was physically picked up and carried out of the room by an officer, accused Hegseth of being a “misogynist” and a “Christian Zionist,” referring to his support for Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

Several other demonstrators were ejected just moments later, including one man who was carried out of the chamber by officers holding him horizontally.

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