1 of 7 | Pete Hegseth responds to a question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to examine his expected nomination to be Secretary of Defense, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI |
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Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth defended qualifications and rebuked allegations of sexual misconduct and misogyny in a sometimes tense hearing before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Tuesday.
Hegseth faced a contentious confirmation process due to allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking and mismanaging the finances of a veterans nonprofit organization. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and former Fox News contributor.
When asked to submit to a full FBI background check or to commit to staying out of the defense industry for 10 years after serving in the Pentagon during the hearing, he declined to answer directly. He did commit to reinstating the ranks of service members who were removed from the military for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination under Biden administration policy.
"I will commit to this because the commander in chief has committed to this," Hegseth said, referring to President-elect Donald Trump. "Not only will they be reinstated. They will receive an apology, backpay and rank that they lost because they were forced out due to an experimental vaccine."
The questions Hegseth received from committee Democrats honed in on the sexual assault allegations and his sexist public comments about women in the military. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., separately asked him to explain some of his comments and clarify his stances on women serving in combat and throughout the various ranks of the armed forces.
"If you are saying that women shouldn't be serving in the military -- and I'm going to read you your quotes because the quotes themselves are terrible -- you will have to change how you see women to do this job well," Gillibrand said. "I don't know if you are capable of that. You've denigrated active-duty service members."
Hegseth disputed ever disparaging women in the military but claimed to witness them being held to a lower standard. He made the unsupported claim that commanding officers are required to "meet quotas" of women in the infantry division.
"Commanders do not have to have a quota for women in the infantry. That does not exist," Gillibrand said. "Please do not deny that you've made those statements."
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Iraq War, grilled Hegseth on his knowledge of the role the defense secretary and U.S. military play internationally. Hegseth failed to name the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and could not name the international security agreements the defense secretary would lead.
"Then let's not lower the standards for you," Duckworth said.
Ten nations are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines.
Republicans defended Hegseth's qualifications and his past. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., alleged that Democrats have witnessed lawmakers showing up to nighttime votes drunk.
"We've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes," Mullin said. "The only reason I'm here and I'm not in prison is because my wife loved me too."
It is not clear what Mullin was referring to. He would go on to read the qualifications to be defense secretary that he found on Google.
"I think it's so hypocritical, senators, especially on the other side of the aisle, to be talking about his qualifications," Mullin said. "But in general, the U.S. secretary of defense position is filled by a civilian. That's it. If you have served in the U.S. Army forces and have been in the service for -- you have to be retired for at least seven years and Congress can weigh that."
While Hegseth repeatedly touted his focus on merit-based staffing in the military, he also considers his position as an outsider of the defense industry as a positive quality.
"There's where I feel a little bit liberated. I didn't work at Lockheed [Martin] or pick a defense contractor," Hegseth said. "I don't have a special interest in any particular system or any particular company or any particular narrative. I want to know what works. I want to know what defeats our enemies, keeps us safe and deters them."
Hegseth first denied the allegations of sexual misconduct. He said he has faced a "smear campaign" from the "left-wing media" because of his association with Trump and because he is a "change agent."
"What became very evident to us from the beginning was there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us," he said. "It wasn't about me. Most of it was about President Donald Trump."
During Hegseth's opening comments he was interrupted by demonstrators three times. They were escorted out by Capitol police.
The defense secretary nominee defended helping people convicted of war crimes procure pardons from Trump, saying there was evidence withheld and prosecutorial misconduct in their cases. He added that he is proud of his role in seeking pardons for those military members and suggested some had been acquitted.
Ranking Democrat Jack Reed said they would not be pardoned if they were not convicted. The exchange with Reed was marked with multiple instances of crosstalk as Hegseth interrupted the senator's questioning, sometimes ignoring questions altogether.
Hegseth's ability to manage a defense budget was also called into question. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., read from financial reports on Hegseth's former nonprofit organizations. One, Concerned Veterans for America, recorded fiscal year shortfalls of as much as $400,000.
"I don't believe you can tell this committee or the people of America you are qualified to lead them," Blumenthal said.
Hegseth defended his work with that organization and Veterans for Freedom. He cited letters that were submitted into the record from the people he worked with in those organizations.
"We have letters submitted for the record from almost everyone that worked with me every single day, including our chief operating officer, who will attest that every dollar we raised was used intentionally toward the execution of our mission, which is supporting the warfighters," he said.
U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called the hearing into order on Capitol Hill at 9:30 a.m. EST. He acknowledged signals of approval from the audience as Hegseth entered and in his opening speech remarked that Hegseth may be an "excellent choice."
Admittedly this nomination is unconventional. The nominee is unconventional," Wicker said. "Just like that New York developer who rode down the escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for president. That may be what makes Mr. Hegseth an excellent choice."
Sen. Reed, D-R.I., is more skeptical about Hegseth's nomination.
"Mr. Hegseth, I do not believe you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job," Reed said. "We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. A variety of sources, including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and other troubling issues."
Wicker outlined some of the issues the next defense secretary will face. Among them, he noted that the Pentagon has not passed an audit in several years.
"Today's Department of Defense is no longer prepared for great power competition," Wicker said. "It is not a national defense institution ready to achieve and sustain technological supremacy across the range of operations."