Pete Hegseth Survives Contentious Hearing in Key Senate Confirmation Battle
Bradley Devlin / George Caldwell / Jacob Adams / Tyler O'Neil /
Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, veterans advocate, and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Some senators tested the nominee’s mettle on defense issues, while others—primarily Democrats on the panel—honed in on allegations, most of them made anonymously, of improper personal behavior in Hegseth’s past.
After the hearing concluded shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told The Daily Signal that time is of the essence in confirming Hegseth.
“We can’t wait. We can’t stall getting him to the Pentagon, to get him on the job, and do what he has to do,” the freshman Indiana senator said.
Banks also said that he views Hegseth’s lack of experience in the highest echelons of military governance as an asset, not a weakness.
“First of all, the guy we have as the secretary [of defense] today was a general. He’s been a complete disaster, and we can’t repeat that,” he said, referring to retired Gen. Lloyd Austin. “Pete’s immediately going to be so much better than what we have today.”
One of Banks’ major takeaways from the tense hearing was Hegseth’s resilience.
“But the way he conducted himself in that hearing was so good that he proved that he’s up for it. He’s sharp,” Banks said.
The Daily Signal subsequently caught up with Sean Parnell, a friend of Hegseth, who worked with him as a senior adviser to Concerned Veterans of America from 2013 to 2016. Parnell has spoken out against the allegations of workplace misconduct leveled against Hegseth.
Parnell told The Daily Signal that he thought Tuesday’s Senate committee confirmation hearing could not have gone any better. He emphasized that “the policy stuff really matters to [Hegseth], not just the top-line stuff, and you know, sometimes in a hearing, you get seven minutes to reply, and there’s a lot of filibustering and grandstanding. But you know, he really gets this stuff at a deep, substantive level. And you know, his commitment to the warfighter really is unwavering, because he’s not far removed from being a warfighter.”
“All this talk about expertise, you know, imagine leading troops in combat, being responsible for their lives, like every decision that you make, could end up with one of those men or women going home in a body bag. And then being lectured by some senators that you don’t understand the gravity, or don’t have the qualifications, to do the job. It’s just kind of unbelievable.”
Asked about how important he thought it was that Hegseth was an outsider, Parnell said, “It’s everything. To me, that is everything. Because you know the American people, you know through Donald Trump’s election, with the popular vote victory, with the Electoral College victory, that’s what they want.
“The American people want creative, innovative thinking. They want people from the outside, outside of Washington, to come in and fix things. And that’s what Pete represents. In fact, that’s what a lot of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees represent, is that disruption.”
Note: What follows is an article that was updated in real time as the hearing proceeded.
1:45 p.m
Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., asked Hegseth hypothetically about whether, if he were to be given an order by President Trump that he as Pentagon chief viewed as illegal, would he refuse to follow it?
“I reject the premise that President Trump is going to be giving illegal orders.”
1:39 p.m.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., joined his fellow committee Democrats in going on the offensive against Hegseth, mentioning a number of accusations of drunkenness, all of which the nominee labeled “anonymous smears.”
“Do you think this is appropriate behavior for a leader?” Kelly asked. Hegseth responded: “Men and women who work with me every day are the overwhelming preponderance of evidence that testify [to] my leadership and professionalism in leading.”
“It’s shameful. They still tout it as the most successful airlift in history.” Hegseth said of the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
On bringing pride back to the uniform, he said, “I really think that it comes back to strong, clear leadership.”
1:26 p.m.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., challenged Hegseth to name one of the nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, what type of agreement we have with that nation, and just how many nations are in ASEAN.
Hegseth responded by saying he did not know the number of ASEAN members, but knows that the U.S. has allies in South Korea, Japan, and Australia.
Duckworth shot back that none of those countries are in ASEAN, and “suggests [Hegseth] do a little homework.” One problem with Duckworth’s question, however, is that ASEAN is not a military alliance. It’s an economic one.
The closest thing the U.S. has to a collective defense agreement is with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
Australia is, in fact, a member of that pact, signed Sept. 8, 1954.
12:55 p.m.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., expressed empathy for Hegseth’s past personal indiscretions.
“We’ve all made mistakes. I made mistakes. And [Hegseth’s wife] Jennifer, thank you for loving [Pete] through that mistake, because the only reason why I’m here and not in prison is because my wife loved me, too,” Mullin said.
“He has been willing to go into combat … and he’s willing to still put himself through this [hostile Democratic committee questioning] … . What other qualifications does he really need?”
12:49 p.m.
“Our staff numbers are exploding,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. “What are you going to do to address that?”
“There’s an inverse relationship between the size of staffs and victory on the battleground,” Hegseth told the Alabama lawmaker.
“It seems to me that you’ve supervised more people than most U.S. senators,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said in response to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who questioned whether Hegseth had sufficient managerial experience to run the Pentagon.
“It’s for show,” Mullin said, denouncing committee Democrats for attacking Hegseth on standards that some senators themselves would fail to pass. He noted that senators have shown up drunk to vote in the evenings, yet are never asked about it, nor are they called to resign. ”
12:44 p.m.
Hegseth refused to promise not to work in the defense industry for 10 years after the end of his tenure as defense secretary. “I’m not a general,” he said, replying to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who grilled him on his past comments that generals should be banned from working for the defense industry for 10 years after leaving office.
“I want to know what works,” Hegseth added, contending that his lack of involvement with Lockheed and other defense contractors would help him make unbiased decisions on reforming procurement.
Hegseth expressed support for Israel.
“I’m a Christian, and I robustly support the state of Israel,” he told the committee. “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” the militant Palestinian group.
When asked about financial accountability for the Pentagon, Hegseth emphasized it’s needed. “It will be a priority,” he said. Hegseth spoke about a Pentagon audit.
He also repeatedly reiterated his views on women in the military. “Yes, women will [have] access to ground combat roles, given that the standards remain high,” the nominee said.
Hegseth emphasized focusing on defeating the enemies of the United States. In a response to questioning from Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, he told the committee: “We’re going to be focused on lethality and defeating our enemy.”
On the origin of left-wing views in the armed forces, Hegseth pinned the problem on political leaders in Washington. “Wokeness comes not from the uniform rank, but the political class.”
Hegseth committed to bringing change to the armed forces. “And accountability is coming,” he said, adding that there hadn’t been adequate accountability for high-ranking officers. “But if you’re a general who loses a war, you get a promotion.”
10:55 a.m.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., pressed Hegseth on his view about women serving in the military.
Hegseth told her he would be “honored” to serve alongside her.
“I would say I would be honored to have the opportunity to serve alongside you, shoulder-to-shoulder, men and women, black [and] white, all backgrounds, with a shared purpose,” he said. “Our differences are not what define us. Our unity in our shared purpose is what defines us.”
10:49 a.m.
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who will serve as Trump’s national security adviser, sat next to Hegseth and praised him before his opening statement. Hegseth noted his unique background as a nominee without being a four-star general officer.
“[Hegseth] will bring the perspective of being the first secretary of defense who has served as a junior officer,” the congressman said.
Waltz emphasized reforming the Defense Department. “l have no doubt that he is going to get the Pentagon back to its primary mission: lethal readiness,” he said.
Waltz painted a bleak picture of the state of arms procurement by the Pentagon: “It seems like every major weapons system is costing too much, delivering too little, and taking way too long.”
“We have seen thousands of veterans expressing their support for Pete,” he noted. “I can’t imagine having a more capable partner as our national security adviser.”
Waltz reminded the committee about the importance of confirming Hegseth in a timely manner: “It is critical that President Trump has his national security team in place for the challenges ahead.”
10:40 a.m.
Hegseth faced three hecklers. The Daily Signal clipped video of each incident.
10:33 a.m.
Hegseth condemned what he called “a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us.”
He admitted that he is not a perfect person, but said that he had been “saved by the grace of God by Jesus and Jenny.” The latter is a reference to his wife, Jennifer.
10:30 a.m.
Hegseth put God front and center in his opening statement. “All glory regardless of the outcome belongs to our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
He laid out an ambitious agenda of rebuilding the armed forces. “We will reestablish trust in our military.” Hegseth told the committee. “Our standards will be equal, not equitable. That’s a very different word.”
Hegseth briefly recalled where he began his military service, which was as an ROTC cadet at his alma mater, Princeton University. “I joined the military because I love my country and felt an obligation to defend it.”
Hegseth noted his unique background as a nominee who was not a general. “My only special interest is the war fighter.”
“We let them win, and we bring them home.”
10:25 a.m.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., spoke to The Daily Signal before the hearing began.
When asked why she came in person to support Hegseth, she said, “You know, I think there’s a couple things that happened, right? You had people like Elizabeth Warren coming out to attack Hegseth and saying that, you know, he was a quote-unquote ‘drunk and a womanizer.’”
“The fact is, both of those are categorically false,” Luna added. “I’ve known Pete for some time. I was a female in the military. We want to make sure that our military is getting back to lethality and really providing a fighting machine, and so Pete can bring that. He can dewokify.”
“But then also to this aspect of the smear campaign that Warren actually ended up launching, saying that the Jerusalem Cross was somehow a symbol of white nationalism and Nazism,” she said. “But if that were the case, why did they put it on Jimmy Carter’s funeral pamphlet and why is it on the floor of a church? The fact is, that’s not true. And so we’re here today to combat that.”
10:20 a.m.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., who lost his legs in military service, told The Daily Signal before the hearing that he believes Hegseth will shift the culture of the military away from political correctness and the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, and toward meritocracy.
“Anything that’s not about defense and insurance, that’s applicable to that, that’s considered experimentation, that doesn’t lead to best man, best woman for the job, period, across the board, which the military has to be the last great bastion of best man, best woman for the job—It goes out the window.”
Mast added, “Anything that falls under that, your DEI stuff, that has absolutely been a part of this [Biden] administration, [will be] gone.”
Mast said that any other policy would be a disservice to the armed forces.
“People don’t come into the military largely because they want to be soft and sensitive and weak,” he added. “Badasses. That’s what they want to be, in defense of the greatest nation on the face of the earth.”
10:15 a.m.
Hegseth responded to hecklers by thanking law enforcement for having his back.
10:07 a.m.
Former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., introduced Hegseth, saying that it is “high time” for the Pentagon to think outside the box.
9:46 a.m.
Before the hearing, The Daily Signal spoke to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Tuberville has been a staunch ally of Hegseth throughout the confirmation process, and has previously taken President Biden’s Pentagon to task on its pro-abortion policies.
“Well, Nov. 5, we started taking our country back,” Tuberville told The Daily Signal. “Today, we start taking our military back. We can’t listen to all this woke crowd on the Left. All they want to do is block everything we’re going to do, slow President Trump down, slow the military down. We got to take it back, and it starts today.”
Hegseth, Tuberville believes, is the man to do just that. “Pete’s the perfect guy for us. We don’t need a general. We need a drill sergeant,” the Alabama senator said.
“It’s all about discipline and merit and regulations and building a team. That hadn’t been happening. We’ve been dividing our military. We can’t continue to do that,” Tuberville continued. “There’s no second place in war, you know, there’s a first place, and anything after that is null and void. So, we’ve got to have somebody with experience that’s closer to the same age as a lot of these recruits. We’ve got to build a recruiting base back. We’re as low as we’ve ever been.”
“We’re looking down the barrel of a gun with wars all over the world, and we need to build a military back that people are going to respect,” Tuberville told The Daily Signal. “We have to build this back, and we got to build it back the right way, and he’s the guy that can do it.”
9:41 a.m.
Medea Benjamin, figurehead of the anti-Israel protest group Code Pink:
“Our message is that we don’t want a secretary of defense that is in favor of continuing supporting Israel, or who is a Christian nationalist and a Christian Zionist, who has said such hateful things about the Muslim community.”
Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind.; Tim Sheehy, R-Mont.; and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. joined the committee for the first time Tuesday.
9:30 a.m.
Hegseth has arrived at the hearing.
9 a.m.
Tuesday morning’s hearing is a massive opportunity for Hegseth to shore up support for his confirmation among Republican senators. Throughout the transition period, Hegseth has been on Capitol Hill meeting with senators to sell his vision for the Department of Defense for the incoming Trump administration. Hegseth’s efforts have reportedly been persuasive, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., recently told Trump privately that Hegseth has the votes to be confirmed, according to CBS News.
It’s quite the reversal of fortune for the Pentagon hopeful, whose confirmation seemed doubtful amid a barrage of smears in the corporate media. Not long after Trump nominated Hegseth, a 44-year-old veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, often-anonymous accusers hit the nominee with allegations of sexual and workplace misconduct that caused some Republican senators to voice concerns. These Republicans expressed concern about an alleged sexual assault in 2017, which Hegseth and his lawyers settled outside of court. Hegseth’s accuser filed a police report after the alleged incident, but no charges were brought against Hegseth.
Other accusations stemmed from Hegseth’s time at Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), a veterans advocacy nonprofit. Unnamed sources accused Hegseth of workplace misconduct, intoxication on the job, and mismanagement of CVA funds. A combination of these factors ultimately led to Hegseth’s departure in 2016.
The allegations from Hegseth’s time at CVA were rebutted by several of Hegseth’s colleagues from his time at CVA on the record in exclusive reporting by The Daily Signal.
Hegseth’s meetings on Capitol Hill have activated some GOP senators to champion Hegseth’s confirmation.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., held a Monday press conference in support of the defense secretary nominee.
“We don’t need a general from the Pentagon. We’ve tried that,” Tuberville told reporters. “We need a drill sergeant, somebody that’s been in two wars, somebody that understands camaraderie and team and work ethic and time restraint and respect, personal respect, believing in yourself. First, we’ve got to get all that back.”
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuberville will be among the senators to question Hegseth on Tuesday.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., who first met with Hegseth about his nomination in November, has rallied support for Hegseth in the media.
In a recent interview on Fox News’ “Mornings with Maria,” Hagerty told host Maria Bartiromo that “Pete Hegseth is working his way through the process right now. I’ve been supporting him all along the way.”
“We have got to get new leadership at the Pentagon, focused again on lethality and competence, away from DEI and pronouns,” Hagerty added.
As for the allegations, Hagerty told reporters in November that “this is just dredging up something, try to smear and discredit a candidate. It reminds me of what happened to Brett Kavanaugh. It’s a disgrace.”
Senate GOP leadership hopes to move quickly to confirm Hegseth and other Trump nominees upon Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 so the president and his Cabinet can move forward with enacting their agenda.