Hegseth confronts allegations of misconduct as senators question Trump’s Pentagon pick
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, vowed Tuesday to foster a “warrior culture” at the Pentagon and confronted allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking and questions about his derisive views of women in combat during a heated Senate confirmation hearing.
Hegseth repeatedly deflected the various misconduct allegations and instead focused on his combat experience in the Army National Guard as senators sought to determine whether the veteran and former TV news show host is fit to lead the Pentagon.
“It’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent,” Hegseth said in opening remarks.
Asked about the sexual assault allegation, Hegseth dismissed it as a “smear campaign,” as he did in response to a rapid-fire series of questions about his personal behavior and complaints of drinking on the job. He has said he would not drink alcohol if he is confirmed as Defense secretary.
Pressed about his personal behavior and marital infidelity, Hegseth acknowledged, “I am not a perfect person.”
Senators spent hours asking detailed questions about the concerns surrounding Hegseth, with the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee acknowledging the “unconventional” choice. But Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) likened Hegseth to Trump and said he would “bring energy and fresh ideas to shake up the bureaucracy.”
As author of several books and a former Fox News Channel host, Pete Hegseth has been forced to defend himself against his own public comments.
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, called the allegations “extremely alarming” and said flatly: “I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job.”
Hegseth, 44, comes from a new generation of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and his military experience is viewed as an asset. But he also brings a jarring record of past statements and actions.
Hegseth also does not have the credentials typical of a Defense secretary, raising questions about his ability to manage an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of roughly $850 billion.
The more than four-hour hearing launched a weeklong marathon as the Republican-led Senate is rushing to have some of Trump’s picks ready to be confirmed as soon as Inauguration Day on Monday. With a narrow GOP majority in the Senate, Hegseth will need almost all Republicans to support his nomination if all Democrats oppose it.
GOP allies are determined to turn Hegseth into a cause celebre for Trump’s governing approach amid the nation’s culture wars. Outside groups, including those aligned with the conservative Heritage Foundation, are running costly campaigns to prop up Hegseth’s bid.
In the audience were cadres of men wearing clothing expressing support for veterans or service in the military, but also protesters who momentarily disrupted proceedings and were removed from the room.
Trump’s novice Defense secretary pick and report of a planned ‘warrior board’ fuel concerns in some circles over the sanctity of the military’s apolitical traditions.
Hegseth was combative at times, forced to confront the allegations of sexual assault and his own comments that are far from the military mainstream.
Pressed on his opposition to diversity initiatives, Hegseth agreed that the military “was a forerunner in courageous racial integration.” But he argued that modern diversity and inclusion policies “divide” current troops and don’t prioritize “meritocracy.”
In a striking scene, several female Democratic senators confronted Hegseth over his comments that women should “straight up” not be in combat roles, a view he has appeared to soften after recent meetings with senators. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) noted the switch. “Which is it?” she asked.
In one fiery exchange, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told Hegseth: “You will have to change how you see women to do this job.”
A woman told Monterey police that Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, blocked her from leaving his room and sexually assaulted her, according a police report.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who lost both legs when the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting was shot down, displayed the Soldier’s Creed she said hung at her hospital bed and by which all Army service members are expected to live. She told the nominee the troops “cannot be led by someone who is not competent.”
She called him “the most unqualified person to ever be nominated for secretary of Defense.”
Many senators have yet to meet with Hegseth and most do not have access to the results of his FBI background check, as only committee leaders were briefed on its findings. Reed said the background check was “insufficient.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked Hegseth whether he would agree to a fuller FBI review, and the nominee said it was not up to him. The Trump transition would need to request it.
As Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth would oversee more than 2 million troops who could face discipline for the same behavior he has acknowledged or been accused of.
Republican senators took turns shoring up Hegseth, with Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma saying “we’ve all made mistakes,” and coaxing the nominee to say something nice about his wife and children. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri called Hegseth a “breath of fresh air” after he spoke about the need to tear out diversity initiatives “root and branch from institutions.”
And when GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a military veteran and sexual assault survivor, questioned Hegseth, he told her it would be the “privilege of a lifetime” to be the Defense secretary for men and women in uniform.
Hegseth was largely unknown on Capitol Hill when Trump tapped him for the top Pentagon job. A co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” he had been a contributor with the network since 2014 and apparently caught the eye of the president-elect, who is an avid consumer of television and the news channel in particular.
Hegseth attended Princeton University and served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. But he lacks senior military and national security experience.
In 2017, a woman told police that Hegseth sexually assaulted her, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and told police at the time that the encounter at an event for Republican women in Monterey was consensual. He later paid the woman a confidential settlement to head off a potential lawsuit.
North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer asked about Hegseth’s tattoos, which have come under question for their association with white nationalist groups. But Cramer did not focus on the “Deus Vult” tattoo that got Hegseth flagged as a potential “insider threat.”
And Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) questioned his lack of management experience, saying he has “real problems” with Hegseth’s ability to take on a large organization like the military.
If confirmed, Hegseth would take over a military juggling an array of crises on the global stage and domestic challenges in military recruitment, retention and ongoing funding.
The secretary is responsible for tens of thousands of U.S. troops deployed overseas and at sea, including in combat zones where they face attacks, such as in Syria and Iraq and in the waters around Yemen. The secretary makes all final recommendations to the president on what units are deployed, where they go and how long they stay.
Pentagon chiefs also routinely travel across the world to meet with international leaders on a vast range of security issues including U.S. military aid, counter-terrorism support, troop presence and global coalition building. And they play a key role at NATO as a critical partner to allies across the region.
Mascaro, Copp and Brown write for the Associated Press. AP writers Lolita C. Baldor and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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